Woman Scares Car Thief Away by Jumping on The Hood

For a few moments, Katie Diederich tells ABC affiliate WISN, she stopped thinking and her entire body went numb. She was getting ready to go and pick her kid up from school when she realized that she’d forgotten something inside the house.

She left the engine running and went back to retrieve that something she left behind; she couldn’t have been gone for more than 30 seconds, she reckons. As it happens, it was enough for a lurking car thief to get inside the vehicle and attempt to drive away with it.

Katie came out just as he was backing out of the driveway. Without stopping to process about the worst that could happen, she jumped on the hood of her own car, while screaming at the thief to “please get out of my car!” and staring him “dead in the eyes.”

She says she doesn’t remember whether he said anything to her, but the look of fear in his eyes is something that stuck with her. When he realized that she wouldn’t let go of the car, he stopped, got out and ran to the getaway vehicle that had been waiting for him.

“I don't know what came across me. I was just a different person,” Katie tells the media outlet, adding that she probably went into “beast mode.”

While in her case, jumping on the hood of the vehicle worked in terms of deterring the thief from what he was planning, in most cases, a gesture like this can have tragic consequences. The best way to stop a car thief from stealing your wheels is much simpler and safer: don’t leave it with the engine running and / or the doors unlocked. Saves you a lot of trouble, guaranteed.