BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — It is a situation no one wants to be in - getting followed and then dragged by a car in broad daylight. But that's what happened to a local resident.
Without the luxury of a car, 23-year-old Cheyenne Mundkenke walks an hour to work every day in the area of Stine Rd and Ming Ave. She says catcalling is not unusual, but this time it was different. It’s a moment she will never forget.
"He grabbed my hand, and then he grabbed my phone and threw it into the car and held on to my hand, and he kept like pulling my arm into the car and I was like obviously beating him off and at some point, he got frustrated so he just held onto my hand and pressed on the gas and he literally dragged me all the way across the street."
After being dragged, she says the left side of her body was left with scrape marks and injuries.
Mundhenke says she left her house around 9 a.m. and says at around 9:30, a car followed her for about a mile.
"Three separate u-turns on just like different parts of the street like you'd wait for some cars to pass and then do another u-turn and like I had my headphones, and I wasn't listening. I didn't care for what he had to say but like I can't avoid him when pulls out in front of me."
That is when she decided to take pictures of the man she says is responsible and his license plate. But while she did that, he lunged at her while still in his car, which she describes as a white Honda.
Mundhenke says she was ready to fight at the moment, but everything sunk in when the adrenaline wore off.
"When I realized I could have been dragged to death. When people pointed that out. It was pretty scary."
The Bakersfield Police Department is not able to comment as this is an ongoing investigation but did say that based on Mundhenke’s description of events, it seems the appropriate law violations are robbery and possibly attempted kidnapping.
They note that stranger kidnapping is extremely rare while robbery is not and advice that when being followed by a stranger, stay in a public space, video tape, yell, create distance and immediately contact law enforcement.
Eric Nolan, the owner of Xtreme Training Center, explains even with self-defense training, in this case, it is difficult to pinpoint what could have been done better. But even with the odds stacked against her, he says there are some things she might be able to do:
Regardless Nolan advises everyone to carry either pepper spray or even a metal ballpoint pen as protection.
Meanwhile, for Mundhenke, now that the injuries are turning into bruises and she is physically recovering, she hopes this brings awareness.
"I am sad I had to go through it too, but I’m not the only woman who goes through these things.”
Mundhenke explains that when she was able to get free from him, he still had her phone. But thanks to her sharing her location with friends, they were able to find it in some bushes near the Smart and Final on White Lane. She checked the recently deleted folder and was able to recover all the pictures she took of him and his license plate. Now she hopes that can help bring some justice.
MORE TIPS TO HELP ESCAPE AN ATTACKER:
