“She’s lying”: alleged carjacker tells Channel 11 he’s innocent

ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — A man facing charges after an alleged carjacking attempt is claiming that he’s innocent, and that the alleged victim is lying.

Roderick Hatten doesn’t believe he should be in jail, even though police say he tried to carjack a woman who was sitting in her car at South Hills Village Mall.

“She’s lying,” Hatten said. “On the day of that, I was panhandling to get money for the bus, the train, she said no. I asked her to stop staring at me, she got upset and I told her she should leave and she did and I walked off.”

Police tell Channel 11 that the woman was able to quickly lock her door to stop Hatten from getting inside.

Hatten was originally released on bond, but investigators say he went to the Bethel Park Police Department to get his backpack, and tried getting inside.

In court today, those charges were dropped to misdemeanors instead of felonies.

“She’s wrong for what she’s doing, a lot of these people are,” Hatten said. “This has been going on since I was 18, people lying on me.”

Hatten has a lengthy criminal history from around the country, and isn’t from Pittsburgh. He told Channel 11 that he’s from Texas, and got stuck in Pittsburgh on parole while going back to New York City.

His new court date was scheduled for March 17.

Stay with Channel 11 as we continue to follow this story.

Westmoreland County Pennsylvania State Trooper facing harassment charges

©2022 Cox Media Group