ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- When Christine Braswell found a man breaking into her SUV in a Walmart parking lot in North Carolina, she chased him. When the 26-year-old couldn't catch him, she jumped behind the wheel -- and what happened next is scary and disturbing to watch.
Editor's note: Video contains graphic content.
"She slammed on her brakes, crammed it in reverse, and ran over the median there in between and hit him in the back. I mean she, just he was running and she just flat hit him," said witness Janice Kelley.
Witnesses WLOS the man who was hit was allegedly going through Braswell's belongings in her red-orange Ford Explorer.
"When I walked out of Walmart, he had her purse and was pulling all of her stuff out then me and my friend told him to put it down and what are you doing. She stopped and he ran off and then she came up behind him and hit him with her car," said witness Blake Bennett.
When Braswell came out to her car, she said she confronted the man before she claims he took off with her purse.
"I came back out here and he was with my purse and took off and I took off after him. Me being five months pregnant, I chased a little ways then come back, jumped in the car, threw it in gear and came across the curb and ran him over. I was not going to let him get away with it. It's not right it's not fair," said Braswell.
The man, helped to the curb by two men who confronted him earlier, sat writhing while paramedics tended to him. He was taken to the hospital for treatment.
"I know two guys helped him up and when they were putting him in the ambulance I seen that he had blood coming down both arms," said Kelley.
Asheville police tell WLOS the man escaped with minor injuries. Police are charging Robert Raines with breaking and entering, larceny, and damage to property.
Braswell is facing an assault with a deadly weapon charge.
