No one wants to come home to discover their car has been stolen. I mean, that’s just the worst. Conversely, you could get home just in time to see the daring car theft unfolding. In the case of this Australian man, his forklift was the exact tool to stop a brazen thief from making off with his hatchback. 

An Australian man lifted his own hatchback with a forklift to keep a car thief from getting away in his ride

A popular social media video with over 57,000 likes shows a little red five-door hatchback floating in the air. It isn’t the work of magic or illusion. No, it has been hoisted into the air by a forklift to stop a would-be car thief from getting away scot-free.

It all started when Brendan Mills, an Australian man living in Logan, Queensland, arrived at his home to find a woman attempting to steal his car. Mills rushed to stop her from leaving in his hatchback. “We’re home, you’re busted. Get out of the car, you know it’s over,” he shouted at the thief, per the BBC. 

However, his commands didn’t stir the criminal from her seat. That’s when Mills got creative. He and his family called the police. Then he turned his attention to his forklift. “Well, there’s a forklift sitting there – why not?” Mills positioned himself alongside his hatchback and lifted it off the ground. That’s one way to stop a thief. 

Police arrived shortly after the family called for help with the car thief. Body cam footage shows several police officers approaching the suspended hatchback and talking to Mills’ family. “Yeah, just lower it down, mate,” one cop tells the forklift operator. “They can’t get out of the car from this side because the forklift is there.” The operator complied, lowering the hatchback back to terra firma. 

“Just stop there!” the police officer said on his body camera. Police pulled the unnamed woman out of the hatchback and arrested her. Although she didn’t get far, the police charged her with burglary and “unlawful use of a motor vehicle.” Check out the video below!