‘Nothing could’ve prepared me.’
A morning commute turned into a terrifying ordeal when a stranger jumped into a woman’s car—all because she forgot this safety tip.
Now, police are using her story as a cautionary tale for drivers everywhere.
In a viral video with more than 135,000 views, TikToker Allie Meyer (@alliemeyer0312) revealed why she’ll never drive with unlocked doors again.
Meyer was on her way to work when her GPS took her down a side road to avoid heavy traffic on the main route. The road was icy with speed bumps, so she was driving slowly.
That’s when a man suddenly appeared in the middle of the street in front of her car, waving his arms.
“Stop! Stop! Stop!” he called out.
Meyer says the man seemed completely normal at first—like someone who might be flagging her down because kids needed to cross the street, or because there was some kind of emergency.
So she stopped.
“Now, he runs around to my side window, and at this point, I’m like, I know if I wanna, like, roll down the window for a complete stranger, especially a man, right?” Meyer recalls.
But before she could even decide what to do, the man made that decision for her.
“Before I even have the time to contemplate what I’m gonna do, he opens my car door and jumps into my car,” she says.
And not just into her car—onto her lap. The man was sitting on top of her in the driver’s seat.
“Drive, drive, drive,” he demanded.
Meyer noticed his bare feet—no socks, no shoes—meaning he’d been running through the snow. He was sitting in her lap “like a little Gremlin,” as she describes it, cramped up with his feet pulled close to his body.
Then things escalated.
People came running over to Meyer’s car and started pulling the man out. He wasn’t going quietly.
“He’s, like, holding on to the steering wheel as they’re trying to pull him out, right? He starts throwing punches. He clocks the guy right in the side of the head,” Meyer says.
A bruise immediately started forming on the Good Samaritan’s face. Meyer herself got clipped during the struggle, though she says she’s fine.
They finally got him out. Then he jumped back in, actually “cannonballs back in,” as Meyer puts it.
They pulled him out again. It took multiple attempts before they finally got him away from the vehicle.
Once the man was removed, one of the helpers (a man Meyer identifies as Aaron) returned to check on her.
“I am so so sorry,” he told her. “This man just escaped from the psych ward two blocks away.”
The man had apparently fled on foot from a psychiatric facility down the street.
Her takeaway? “Even when you’re driving, lock your car doors.”
She believes her experience speaks to the fear felt by many women, including behind the wheel.
“In light of the tragic killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis by an ICE agent, my story underscores the very real fear women face when approached by unknown men,” Meyer told Motor1 via email. “It is absurd to suggest that anyone—especially women—should be expected to comply with demands from a stranger who has not identified themselves or shown credentials. Renee Good, like all individuals confronted by masked or plainclothes ICE agents, should have had the right to drive away safely without fear of being shot.”
Meyer’s story caught the attention of a cop who runs the account @policehelpfultips. He shared his own video about the incident.
“So all the women drivers out there, listen up,” the officer says at the start of his video.
He walks through Meyer’s experience, emphasizing her key mistake: Her doors weren’t locked because she figured she was safe while driving.
“She’s like, ‘I’m in motion, so not really a need to,’” he explains.
His message is clear and direct.
“So, ladies, if you can’t remember anything else, lock your doors because you never know who might be wanting to jump in,” he says. “Have a good day. Be safe.”
While locked doors might seem like common sense, they’re part of a broader set of safety practices that can protect drivers in unexpected situations.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) emphasizes that safe driving requires constant attention and proactive safety measures. The agency encourages drivers to commit to these important safety goals:
Modern cars often come equipped with automatic door-locking features that engage once the vehicle reaches a certain speed, typically around 15 mph. But not all vehicles have this feature enabled by default. Drivers may need to activate it through their car’s settings menu or manually lock their doors each time they start driving.
For vehicles without automatic locking, the principle is the same as NHTSA’s other safety guidelines: Make it a habit. Just as buckling up “every trip, every time” has become second nature for most drivers, locking doors should be part of that same routine, especially when drivers slow down or stop at traffic lights, stop signs, construction zones, or residential areas.
“How does your car not automatically lock when you shift into drive or hit a certain speed?! That’s insane!!” a top comment read.
“Girl I lock my car when I’m pumping gas and standing right there,” a person said.
“I’m picturing [Smeagol] from the Lord of the rings, crouched in your lap,” another added.
“Never stop for a man, sorry,” another commenter wrote.
Motor1 reached out to the officer via Instagram and TikTok direct message. We’ll update this if he responds.
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