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Stockton Bank Robbery Hostage: Leap From Car Caused Brain Injury

STOCKTON (CBS13) — A woman who was taken hostage in a Stockton bank robbery and jumped from the getaway car is sharing her story for the first time.

Stephanie Koussaya jumped out of the speeding car during the police chase and shootout that followed last July's bank robbery that claimed the life of fellow hostage Misty Holt-Singh.

She waited more than a year to speak publicly, because she needed time to heal physically. The jump from the car left her with a brain injury. But she says that leap saved her life.

Koussaya loved her job

"It was a good place. A very positive place. Good people," she said.

On the last day she worked, July 16, 2014, the teller was saying goodbye to customers when three men walked inside.

"They kind of had the same disguise. They looked exactly the same as when they robbed it in January," she said.

Everything was exactly the same as the last robbery, she said, but this time, a Stockton Police officer was waiting outside, and the men came back in.

"They asked if there was another exit," she said. "There was, but they told them no."

Koussaya, her bank manager, and customer Holt-Singh were forced outside.

"This isn't normal, this is weird," she said. "But then I was looking around and I saw the police with these big guns and I was kind of scared, like, what's happening here? And they took us to the car."

Koussaya says the gunmen didn't speak until her manager driving the SUV was accidentally shot in the leg and stopped the car.

"And the guys were like 'We got to go! Come on!' and she was like, 'I can't,'" she said.

The men let the manager out.

"My hopes for the whole thing were the cops would just back off, let these guys get where they needed to go, so me and Misty could find our way home somehow," she said.

But instead, Koussaya says the police followed.

"Throughout the pursuit, there were different gunshots being fired at our vehicle. I knew it wasn't coming from the car, because I noticed the guys kneeling down and I tried to kneel down in my position, because I don't want to get shot," she said.

When she saw the SWAT team join the pursuit, Koussaya took action.

"It wasn't on a busy road," she said. "I knew I didn't want to take the chance of getting hit by a police vehicle."

She doesn't remember the jump, but her injuries are still with her.

"I cracked my head and I damaged my brain," she said. "Body injuries too, but the major injury is the brain."

The hostage experience has left her with anxiety. She can't go near 8 Mile Road.

"Something about that road. I try to avoid it as much as I can. I get flashbacks," she said.

She has almost-daily doctor's appointments, but says some of her biggest supporters are her former bank co-workers. She says she has a lot to overcome, but in her future, there's hope.

"I would love to be who I was before this happened," she said. "Unfortunately, I don't think I will be, but I'm going to try my best to be there."

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