HOUSTON – A resident of the Third Ward is so fed up with crooks breaking into her car, so she decided to fight back.
It happened Tuesday at around 10 a.m. at a home in the 2600 block of Riverside Drive.
Rachel Paxton and her father are working to renovate a historical home, and on Tuesday morning, she had just arrived to work in a truck filled with tools.
“I went inside for a minute, and when I came back out, there was someone who had broken in my window,” Paxton said.
She then saw the crook get back into his own car, but she said she didn’t want him to escape.
“I started swinging at his vehicle with my hammer and busted out their window,” Paxton said. “Then I grabbed onto the tool that I saw was in his lap.”
The crook began driving, dragging Paxton down the street. Eventually, a neighbor pulled her away from the moving vehicle. The man got away with about $800 worth of tools. Paxton had to go to the hospital to get nine stitches in her arm.
“I just thank God that I wasn’t put under the wheel or anything like that,” Paxton said.
While in hindsight she admits chasing after the crook probably wasn’t the smartest idea, she said it’s time to teach them a lesson. She also lives in the Third Ward and said over the past two years, this is the fifth time someone has broken into her car.
“I know my life isn't worth the tools, but at some point, you have to tell these people that it’s not an appropriate thing to do,” Paxton said.
Paxton was not able to get a good description of the thief, other than that he was driving a red vehicle. If anyone has any information about this incident, call Houston police.