Lauren Eickhoff, left, threw hot coffee at a man who grabbed her 11-year-old sister, Allison.
A Michigan man who police say attempted to kidnap a girl got a surprise of his own: a fight and a cup of hot coffee in his face.
Four girls, aged 11 to 14, bought drinks on Friday night from a gas station in Millington, Michigan, and they noticed a man following them, according to CNN affiliate WJRT. They fled to a well-lit store across the street and then fought to save one of the girls in the group.
The man grabbed the youngest, an 11-year-old girl, in front of the Dollar General Store, according to Millington police.
“He said, ‘You’re coming with me.’ And like, he grabbed my face,” 11-year-old Allison Eickhoff told WJRT. “This cannot be happening. I thought it was a test at first, but then I’m like, ‘This is real.'”
Allison’s sister had screamed moments earlier, trying to warn her. The 13-year-old used what she had in hand to fight the man off.
“I grabbed my drink and chucked it at his head. I tried, I punched him in the head,” Lauren Eickhoff told WJRT, adding that she was holding a hot cup of coffee.
The other two girls got involved as well, with the oldest friend attacking the man, according to WJRT. Once the man let go of Allison, he turned his attention to the 14-year-old.
“He grabbed another one by the hair after he had let the little one go, and they continued to kick and punch him and scream until they let go and ran off,” Millington Police Department Chief Jason Oliver told WJRT.
The group ran to a restaurant a block away and someone called 911. The girls weren’t hurt in the struggle.
“The girls did exactly what they should have done,” Oliver told CNN. “They took fight instead of flight and they stuck together. They fought off their attacker and they won.”
Bruce Hipkins
Bruce Hipkins, 22, has been charged with four felonies and a misdemeanor, according to a statement from Tuscola County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Reene.
He faces charges of kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment, as well as two charges of criminal sexual conduct and assault and battery, according to the statement.
Hipkins was arraigned on Monday and is in the Tuscola County Jail on a $250,000 bond.
In his mugshot, Hipkins is wearing a white T-shirt with a large coffee stain.
