San Jose Woman Intentionally Rams Into Lexus to Flee From Suspected Kidnapper: Mountain View Police

A 19-year-old San Jose woman who was taken against her will over the weekend rammed her alleged kidnapper's car into a Lexus, so that she could get away -- and the 23-year-old man accused of taking her has been arrested.

Mountain View Police Sgt. Saul Jaeger said Kenneth Middlebrook was arrested Monday after the 19-year-old woman and a 61-year-old Mountain View woman both reported that he held one against her will in his car, and forced the other to drive him around in his car, respectively.

"Something just isn't right with him," Jaeger said.

It wasn't immediately clear when Middlebrook will be charged, or who is representing him. The Santa Clara County District Attorney on Wednesday did not have the case.  A request to speak to him in jail wasn't immediately returned. According to Jaeger, Middlebrook does not have a criminal history in Santa Clara County.

Police on Wednesday also said Middlebrook is a military veteran. In addition, sources tell NBC Bay Area he may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Middlebrook's father, Jeffrey Middlebrook, apologized for what his son is accused of doing.

"He came back completely emotionally, psychologically and spiritually devastated," Middlebrook said of his son returning from military duty. "He even said, 'I lost my soul in Iraq.'"

The father said he's tried to get the courts to get his son help, but hasn't been successful. "This didn't have to happen," he said.

The bizarre chain of events was first reported on Sunday, when Middlebrook allegedly walked up to a 19-year-old woman in the Alviso neighborhood of San Jose about 6:15 p.m., telling her that he was in trouble with police and had a suspended driver's license, Jaeger said. He convinced the woman to drive him in his gold Nissan Maxima parked a block or so away. When the two reached Mountain View, Middlebrook became "agitated," and Jaeger said he told her, 'You can't leave.'

The woman felt "held against her will and was scared," Jaeger said. Middlebrook had no weapon.

The young woman decided to intentionally drive Middlebrook's Nissan into a black Lexus while driving on Highway 85 south of U.S. Highway 101, Jaeger said. After the accident -- in which no one was injured -- the woman ran out of the car to tell the driver of the Lexus, Chris Tseng, what happened.

"That lady was crying, yelling and rushed toward me and banged on my windshield, "Tseng said. "And said she needed help, she's been kidnapped."

Tseng called 911 to report what he thought was a hit-and run, Middlebrook got "spooked" and took off in his Nissan, Jaeger said.

Tseng said the victim told him at one point Middlebrook threatened to lock her in the trunk of his car.

"She told me the suspect grabbed her neck and tried to choke her," he said. Her mother told NBC Bay Area that was indeed true. "Thank God she's alive," she said.

The California Highway Patrol was called and moved the Lexus to the parking lot of the Computer History Museum to investigate. Mountain View police began scouring the area for Middlebrook, and found his car about 6:30 p.m. at the 7-Eleven at 1380 Pear Ave.

Meanwhile, Jaeger said that Middlebrook ended up at a home in the North Shoreline area and forced a 61-year-old woman to drive him around in her car. The two drove to Berkeley and throughout the Bay Area, ending up in the city of Ione, near Stockton, Jaeger said.

Middlebrook left the woman in her car and told her to stay put while he got out.

She didn't.

She ended up taking off in her own car and calling police.

Police arrested Middlebrook on Monday walking around Ione.

NBC Bay Area's  Nannette Miranda contributed to this report.

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