A have-a-go-hero grandfather who tried to stop a carjacker was left with horrific injuries after the thief mowed him down and left him for dead in the street.
Brave Reginald Stocking, 78, suffered two shattered eye sockets, a chipped skull, a bleed on the brain and a broken nose in the terrifying attack.
The retired security guard was set upon after he returned to his home in Chapel Street, West Bromwich, West Mids., at 9.20pm on Sunday (10/5).
He had dropped his wife, Sylvia, 80, off at their home following a night at the bingo and was opening the gate to their driveway when he was pounced on.
Moments after he got out of his Peugeot 207, the thief shoved Mr Stocking out of the way before jumping into the driver’s seat.
Shockingly, the yob ploughed straight into the pensioner sending him smashing into a wall.
A neighbour found Mr Stocking lying in a pool of blood on the road and dialled 999.
He was rushed to Sandwell Hospital, West Bromwich, West Mids., where he was treated for “life changing” injuries.
Police yesterday urged anyone who saw Mr Stocking’s light blue car, registration BK60 LXN, to contact them.
Mr Stocking’s son David, 47, a scaffolder who lives in nearby Tipton, West Mids., said: “All we know is the police are assuming he’s tried to stop them.
“My dad was parked up, he dropped my mum off and then he drove round, parked at the end of the driveway, opened the gate and he got jumped.
“They nicked his car, we don’t know whether he got beaten up or run over.
“A neighbour a few doors down heard a thud as he was going into his house, looked round and saw my dad lying in the road.
“The neighbour went to get my mum and called the emergency services.
“The whole family is just about coping. My mum is trying very hard to hold herself together, and my son Aaran was really distraught.
“You hear it on the news but you don’t think it’s going to happen to your own family, and not just for a car.
“I don’t think I’d have words for who did this – it’d just be actions.
“We are going to go and see my dad at lunchtime.
“He has been a bit disorientated and just keeps asking where his car is, but doctors haven’t said when he will be able to leave hospital yet.
“It’s all so shocking, he doesn’t deserve this. He had lived a blameless life and some scum bag comes along and does this. Whoever did this must be caught.”
West Midlands Police suspect the carjacker was a man seen lurking nearby before Mr and Mrs Stocking, who have been married for 59 years, returned home.
Detective Constable James Ashcroft said: “The elderly victim was rushed to hospital where he is being treated for serious head injuries.
“We are yet to trace the stolen Peugeot and urge people to keep an eye out for it in the local area.
“We believe it will have some damage to the front and rear end as it collided with the victim and a wall before driving off.”
The offender is believed to be a man who is over 6ft tall and of stocky build, who was seen around the area near the junction of Chapel Street and Old Meeting Street in West Bromwich at about 9pm.