‘I was like alright, hang on for dear life’: South Hill man confronts car prowler, nearly ran over

South Hill, WA — The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an attempted car prowl in the South Hill neighborhood. Eric Smith’s ring camera captured the March 3 ordeal. The part that’s going viral is the moment when Smith is nearly run over in his own driveway.

“In that moment…as soon as the vehicle hit me, I was like ‘alright, hang on for dear life,’” Smith said.

Prior to that insane moment, Smith was inside his home Wednesday when he got a ring notification on his phone about someone going through his truck. He immediately ran outside to confront the prowler. The suspect was trying to run to the getaway car, but Smith was able to tackle him down to the ground pretty quickly.

“But as soon as I got my hands on the guy, I knew he was a young teenager,” Smith said.

As Smith is fighting the suspect, the car in the street starts to back up and then angle towards him.

“And turned the vehicle towards me and…..and the rest happened,” Smith said.

The other suspect tried to run over Smith right in his driveway. Smith landed on the hood of the car. And as that car hit his truck, Smith kicked his door closed. The miraculous part about what happened next? Smith landed on his feet without a scratch on him.

“I ended up landing on my feet and the next thing I know….I was like I gotta get the license plate,” Smith said.

Smith tried to get the car’s license plate number to give to police. He says the photo he took was blurry, but police responded quickly.

He showed KIRO 7 the damage to his truck. He says he will have to replace both doors due to the damage. Even with insurance, he says it’s still going to be costly. But overall, he says he’s thankful it wasn’t worse.

“It could’ve been completely different and I could’ve been injured or even killed,” Smith said.

Smith says he is pretty sure both suspects are teenagers. And, after everything, Smith believes this could’ve also been worse for the two suspected car prowlers.

“Is that really worth your future and possibly someone else coming out and shooting you?” Smith said.

A Pierce County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson tells KIRO 7 that a neighboring jurisdiction has recently arrested a juvenile suspect who may have been involved in this case. She says further investigations are underway to identify and connect the suspect to the attempted motor vehicle theft and assault.

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