Josh Cox is in Houston for Saturday's Olympic Marathon trials. He, along with his wife Carrie and their 10-month-old son had just arrived here when it happened. As they were driving away in their rental car, the couple says a man approached them. Josh says his wife was driving and he was navigating.
"The entire time, he was walking up to the car. He had his hand in his jacket and I said, 'No, no, no, go, go, go' and then she just punched it and we went through, went across the road," Josh said. "We thought it was done, but then the guy came up in his car and was waving his arms and turned on his light inside and he was waving something. It looked like a badge or something but we don't know what it was."
"That gentleman had his hands in his pocket far too long with a big puffy jacket. We had no idea what he was going to pull out," Carrie said.
"We have no idea what his intentions were but we weren't going to hang around and find out," Josh said. "We have a lot of people praying for this trip. I'm here for the Olympics trials this Saturday and God was looking out for us, kept us safe and just happy to make it out unscathed."
Police tell us they are investigating this case as a police impersonation. The suspect is described as a white male in his 50s, standing about 6-feet tall, weighing around 230 pounds. He was wearing a green jacket that doesn't have anything that would identify it with a police agency.
Carrie's father is a retired law enforcement officer. He told them they did exactly what they were supposed to do. They were on the phone with 911 for about seven minutes.
Josh says the experience was quite an adrenaline rush and now he's going to have a good story to share, but he says he remains very focused on Saturday and he's hoping to qualify for the London Olympics.
Cox and his family live in Mammoth Lakes, California. He's the current US record holder in the 50K.
