https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DCk_cH8RXs
A Wisconsin woman sprang into action—literally—by jumping onto the hood of her car after a would-be carjacker tried driving off with her vehicle during a harrowing incident captured on a surveillance camera.
It all began when 28-year-old Melissa Smith pulled into a gas station in Milwaukee and got out of her car to remove the gas pump, leaving her keys in the ignition.
That’s when Smith “turned around and realized someone was in my car,” she told ABC news.
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Her first thought? “I’m not dealing with this sort of crap today!” she told CNN.
As a result, Smith “ran around my car and then decided to hop on,” she said.
Smith jumped onto the hood of her car, grabbed the windshield wiper and started yelling at the would-be carjacker.
“I was screaming at him. I pounded on the windshield a couple times,” Smith recalled to CNN. “He, in turn, laughed at me…tried throwing me off, and continued to laugh at me.”
The video shows the suspect turning on the windshield wipers and lurching the car forward before hitting the brakes in an attempt to get Smith off the hood, but she continued to hang on.
Eventually, the failed car thief gave up. The surveillance footage shows him bailing out of Smith’s car—taking her purse—and getting into the backseat of another car full of accomplices nearby. The car then sped off.
While the fact that the suspect ditched Smith’s car was a positive outcome, she was put in a very dangerous predicament—the vehicle was left in drive and was rolling into traffic while she was still on the hood.
Fortunately, Smith managed to jump off the hood and climb into her moving vehicle to stop it just as it moved into traffic.
Smith suffered only minor bruising during the incident. She told ABC News she “definitely should not have jumped on my car and risked my life, but that was not what I was thinking at that moment.”
Smith also said the encounter has taught her to “be more aware of your surroundings no matter where you are.”
“And take your keys with you and lock your car doors when you get gas!” she added. “I will never not do that.”
