Boston Police say an Uber customer strangled the driver and stole her car in the South End.

The Uber driver told police that she had picked up a rider in Cambridge and that when the car stopped at the intersection of Massachusetts and Columbus avenues sometime before 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, she “felt a cord or wire tighten around her neck, obstructing her breathing.”

A witness at the scene said that the driver was struggling with a person in the back seat of the vehicle before the driver escaped the car and the person in the back moved forward and drove the car away.

The victim’s phone was still in the car so police say they tracked its location to the area of Stanwood Street and Blue Hill Avenue, where police were able to stop it and arrest Christopher Dawkins, 24, of Dorchester.

Dawkins faces charges of carjacking, strangulation, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and receiving a stolen motor vehicle.

This is a developing story.