REGIONAL REPORT : Carjackings Make Fear an Unwelcome Passenger : Crime: Series of violent incidents sours Southland’s love affair with cars, and fuels calls for tougher laws.

For nearly 50 years, Esther Keely, like many Southern Californians, viewed her automobile as a statement of identity, a vital mode of transportation, and a haven from the perils of crime.

That was before Keely, 73, was shoved out the passenger door of her sister’s moving 1990 Mercury Sable last month by a burly 14-year-old Canoga Park youth who jumped behind the driver’s wheel and took off from the parking lot of a Pic ‘N’ Save department store.

“Now, being in a car will be almost like being in a jail,” said Keely, who recalled tooling through the San Fernando Valley decades ago in a late-model Chevy convertible. “I may get in a car for a ride again, but never alone and never unlocked.”

Keely, who is recovering in a wheelchair from a broken hip, nose and elbow, is one of the survivors of the Southland’s rash of violent carjackings.

In recent weeks, attempted car heists have taken the lives of Sherri Foreman, 29, a pregnant Toluca Lake resident stabbed outside a Sherman Oaks bank; Kathy May Lee, 27, of Monterey Park, gunned down as her mother looked on in horror in the parking lot of an Alhambra fabric store, and Naghi Ghoraishy, 74, shot in the head at a gas station near his Chatsworth home while on a shopping expedition for gifts for the Iranian New Year.

“It’s crazy trying to make sense out of this,” said Ghoraishy’s daughter, Meece. “What do people have to do? Take guards to drive around?”

The attacks have fueled calls for tougher state sentencing codes by politicians from Gov. Pete Wilson on down. They have also resulted in suggestions for changes in driving habits, and in fear and disgust among longtime residents for whom a sporty set of wheels has always represented the essence of carefree Southern California living.

“People are just fed up, they’ve had enough,” said Wayne Bradley, president of the Mustang Owners Club of California. “We’re even concerned about going to our general meetings. It’s just getting real bad.”

Last week, the U.S. attorney’s office responsible for most of Southern California completed its first prosecution under a stiff new federal carjacking law enacted in late 1992. James Anthony Johnson, 23, of Hawthorne pleaded guilty to stealing a 1989 Mustang convertible at gunpoint from the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant in Culver City. He faces a possible 20-year federal prison term at his June 7 sentencing.

“The carjacking crime stabs at the heart of Los Angeles’ love affair with the automobile,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Adam B. Schiff, who prosecuted the Johnson case. “We used to feel safe in our automobiles. Now we don’t.”

The tough sentencing available under the federal law “serves as a big hammer,” Schiff added. “It’s a heck of a lot more time than a carjacker would be looking at if it were a state case.”

Still, with only 200 lawyers to try cases ranging from bank fraud to schoolyard drug pushing, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California must choose its prosecutions sparingly.

“There’s absolutely no way to supplant the local effort nor do we intend to,” said U.S. Atty. Terree A. Bowers. “We just want to serve as an enhancement of the local effort.”

Bowers urges passage of state legislation proposed by Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside) and supported by Wilson that would classify carjacking as a violent crime subject to sentences of up to nine years. The bill, approved by the state Senate in a 33-0 vote this month and awaiting action in the Assembly, would impose a life sentence for kidnapings committed during carjackings. Except in cases of murder, Southern California carjackers are now frequently charged with second-degree robbery, which carries a prison term of two to four years.

The legislation “will give the local district attorneys another weapon in their arsenal to attack this epidemic,” Bowers said.

From the literature of Joan Didion (“The freeway experience . . . is the only secular communion Los Angeles has”) to the lyrics of Randy Newman (“We was born to ride”), the automobile has served as a defining symbol of Southern California culture. In turn, the Southland has long functioned as the automobile industry’s chief marketing test lab, giving birth to trends that head down the freeways and do not stop until they reach the Eastern Seaboard. Dozens of popular autos have been designed and tested in the region, from the functional Honda Civic to the sporty Mazda Miata.

Yet in the case of violent carjackings, it seems as if Southern California is just catching up with a national phenomenon.

Last August, the nation’s heartland shuddered when Tammy Zywicki, a senior at Grinnell College in Iowa, was found dead along a Missouri highway nine days after she pulled over at the side of Interstate 80 in Illinois to deal with car trouble.

A month later came the gruesome death of Maryland suburbanite Pamela Basu, which spurred Washington lawmakers to approve the federal carjacking statute. Basu, 34, was driving her 22-month-old daughter to her first day of preschool when she was held up at a stop sign by two young men. As the thieves sped off, Basu’s arm became entangled in her seat belt and she was dragged for almost two miles. The assailants, who ran Basu’s vehicle into a fence in an attempt to dislodge her, were arrested the same day and charged with murder.

Although statistics are unavailable because most police agencies do not categorize carjackings separately from auto thefts and armed robberies, the FBI estimates that about 25,000 incidents--most of them nonviolent--occurred nationwide last year. That compared to an estimated 19,000 carjackings in 1991.

In Los Angeles, police estimated 7,000 carjackings last year, up from 4,500 in 1991. In San Diego, authorities reported that they had exceeded the previous year’s total of 161 carjackings by last Oct. 1.

Across the region, the situation seems to be getting worse this year--both in the number of incidents and the level of violence.

In Long Beach, where 46 carjackings were reported through March, Todd Rich, 26, was partially paralyzed last week when an armed carjacker crashed his pickup. Rich had jumped in the back of the Toyota as the carjacker drove off.

In Fullerton, police reported two carjackings in two days last week, including one in which 28-year-old Mohammed Kamil was shot in the back after he refused to hand over the keys to his 1991 Honda Civic.

“It’s the same root cause that has resulted in more violence across the board,” Bowers said. “The proliferation of handguns, and the more cavalier attitude that unfortunately seems to be more prevalent among gang members and the full spectrum of criminals.”

In some cases, carjackers appear intent on selling a hot car or its parts to chop shops. But by and large, experts say, carjacking seems to be a crime of opportunity.

“It happens when someone is easy to pick off,” said Detective Mel Arnold of the LAPD’s Van Nuys Division. “The last one I had was a ’78 Datsun. That’s not exactly on the Top 10 list of desirable vehicles.”

Most authorities point to high-tech car alarm systems as a key factor in the proliferation of carjackings. With unattended autos getting more difficult to break into, the driver has increasingly become the weak link.

“The price we pay for our car alarms is that our cars are now safe and we are not,” Schiff said. “People are choosing to rob you at gunpoint because it’s easier than breaking through an alarm system.”

Automobile Club of Southern California communications manager Layna Browdy advises that the best way to minimize the risk of being carjacked is to “always be aware of your surroundings,” particularly when driving at night.

“Try to plan ahead and choose well-lighted and well-traveled facilities if you’re going to stop,” Browdy said. “And when using a public telephone or a gas station, try to park in an area that’s well lit and where other people can see you.”

Experts also suggest that motorists keep their doors locked, consider car-pooling and drive in the center lane of roadways to avoid situations where they can be pinned against the curb by another car at a stop sign or traffic light.

But as the daylight shootings of Ghoraishy and Lee in retail parking areas show, motorists can never be sure they are safe.

Therefore, the most important advice of all, experts say, is: If confronted, don’t resist.

“Give your car away, no argument,” said LAPD spokesman Arthur Holmes. “You can replace your car, but not broken bodies and lives.”

Tips on How to Avoid a Carjacking:

Keep car doors locked and windows rolled up. Park only in well-lit, busy areas. Prevent breakdowns by keeping your car gassed up and well-maintained. Some other tips: Be aware of your surroundings and of pedestrians at all times. Drive in the center lane to avoid being pinned against the curb at stop lights. Leave space between your car and others to enable you to pull away, if necessary. Be sure you are not being followed and keep your house and driveway well-lit. If you think someone is following you, drive to a police station, fire station or crowded lot and start blowing your horn. Don’t resist and don’t hesitate if confronted by a carjacker. Leave the car and back away. Sources: Automobile Club of Southern California, the FBI and the LAPD