Charleston police stated that a father fought back when a man attempted to hop in the driver’s seat of his car late Saturday night at James Island County Park as he was replacing his 2-week-old baby’s diaper in the back.
Right before 11 p.m. Saturday, officers went to the park and discovered the father of the child holding down 30-year-old Raheem Oquendal Grant on the ground outside his 2013 Kia Optima.
As per the affidavit, the father was replacing his baby’s diaper in the back seat when Grant attempted to get in the driver’s seat. Grant then locked the doors as the baby’s mother was out of the car and screaming at Grant to get out, the affidavit stated.
Grant pushed the start button on the car, but the baby’s father reached forward from the back seat to switch the car off and hit Grant in the face multiple times. The two then got into a physical combat in the car as the father attempted to keep Grant from shifting the vehicle into drive.
The mother of the baby could then open a door to the car with her key, and a “concerned citizen” then assisted the baby’s father to restrain Grant as he tried to leave the scene.
Charleston County deputies who were busy with the James Island Festival Of Lights arrived at the scene first. Charleston Police Officers then arrived on the scene and they have taken Grant into custody.
Grant has been charged with carjacking with great bodily injury along with third-degree assault and battery. He was provided a $75,000 bond on the carjacking charge and a $1,087 bond on the assault and battery charge Sunday morning.
