Midland car thief allegedly steals car with passenger inside, attacks victim and crashes vehicle

Police have charged a woman who allegedly tried to steal a running car outside a Midland bottle shop while a passenger was sitting inside, the alleged thief attacking the victim before crashing the car in the Perth Hills.

It is alleged the victim, a woman in her 70s, was sitting in a parked silver Mitsubishi Pajero that was left running outside a liquor store on Great Eastern Highway about 1pm, when the driver went inside the store.