Woman cut with knife in carjacking

A 36-year-old man is facing numerous charges today after allegedly stealing a woman's Jeep and racing it on and off the freeway with Metro Police patrol and air units on his tail.

Joseph Mack is accused of pulling a knife on the Jeep's owner and slashing her left hand in the parking lot of an Albertsons grocery store off Cheyenne Avenue and Rainbow Boulevard before speeding off in the hot car at about 9:40 a.m. Wednesday.

A citizen who witnessed the carjacking followed the Jeep east on Cheyenne. The first patrol car caught up to the Jeep at Jones Boulevard and Smoke Ranch Road, and was soon joined by a second patrol unit, neither of which could stop the Jeep.

One of Metro's air units took over the pursuit when the Jeep headed east from Jones onto the U.S. 95 freeway, tracking it as it got off on the Rancho Drive exit. The Jeep's erratic driver struck another car before police were able to box the driver in about 200 yards north of Alta Drive.

Officers ended up wrestling the resisting man to the ground and dousing him with a pepper-like spray before they could get him into handcuffs about 10:15 a.m., police said.

Mack was booked into Clark County Detention Center on charges of robbery with use of a deadly weapon, possession of stolen property, two counts of hit and run, reckless driving, evading a police officer, and resisting arrest. His court date is pending.

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