The incident happened at Karlee Meyer's home in the 29000 block of Vista Way. Meyer said she wasn't scared. Instead, she was mad and fed-up because he was the third prowler in her yard this week.
Surveillance cameras captured the man running across her front yard. He then goes in the backyard, walks over to a chair and sits down, then appears to pass out. He's also shown sprawled out on his stomach on the patio.
The next day, the same man went back to Meyer's house. She saw him pull up and go into her garden. That's when she grabbed her weapon, a large rock taped to the end of a stick. It was a homemade weapon that her young sons gave her for protection. She chased after the suspect and confronted him as he tried to get away.
"I thought at least it would scare him, even if it's not really balanced as far as to swing. A bat probably would've been better," said Meyer.
The suspect ran to his car. Meyer followed and that's when the suspect tried to pry the stick from her hands. She held on and prevented him from making a getaway.
"We wrestled all the way around the car, and when we get all the way around, he jumps into his car, starts it, he pulls it into drive, and I can just see myself flopping out the window, and I'm on his lap wrestling him, I throw it back into park," said Meyer.
Meyer said she grabbed his car keys and talked to the suspect until police arrived. He told her he came back to get his cellphone battery. Why he ended up in her yard the day before is unclear.
Meyer told Eyewitness News there have been other cases of people trespassing and breaking into homes on her street. She and her neighbors have formed a neighborhood watch.
Hemet police have not yet responded to inquiries about the suspect and crime in the area.
