Good Samaritan helps carjacking victim, deputies say

Lawrence Beck is as tough as nails.  He survived an attack while serving as a U.S. Marine in Afghanistan back in 2011.  So when he saw an accused thief driving off in his prized 2016 Infinity from his Orlando-area home, he did not hesitate and ran after it.

Beck opened the door of the car and went to grab the steering wheel and the driver.

"And as soon as I grabbed him, he started screaming and started punching me," Beck explained.

Beck said the driver accelerated, maneuvering the vehicle back and forth, causing him to get thrown from the car and onto the street. 

"I kind of felt like my life could've been ended right there, if we would have hit a parked car…or if he flipped it. So I just let go," he said.

"I was stunned!" said witness Joe Bundas, who happened to drive by at the same time and stopped.  "The blood was so, so bad.  When he [Beck] got up off the concrete, he didn't even know it."

Beck asked Bundas to follow the driver in his car, which Bundas did.  A few blocks later, the accused thief bailed out at the intersection of Harrison Ave. and Winter Park St. and tried to walk away.

Beck was able to direct deputies with the Orange County Sheriff's Office to 26-year-old Thomas Byron Eichelberger, who was taken into custody on a charge of carjacking.