A Fort Worth man escaped serious injury Sunday after the man whom he discovered breaking into his car attacked him with a stun gun.
Larry Peplinski walked outside to his car along Melbourne Drive shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday to run an errand before the Super Bowl when he found the driver's side door of his SUV open, a man in the seat and a pair of legs sticking out.
"So as I walk up to him I go, like, 'What are you doing man?' And that's when he stepped out from behind the door and swung at me with the stun gun," Peplinski told NBC 5.
The man made a stabbing motion with the stun gun and cut Peplinski with one of the metal prongs of the weapon, he said.
"And then [he] immediately stabbed again on this side, and I guess the angle of his attack the plastic case just kind of dug into the skin, left a gouge. I think it needed batteries or something," Peplinski said, about why the man did not activate the stun gun in an attempt to shock him.
After the confrontation, the man ran away from Peplinski's home, he said.
It was only then that Peplinski said he realized the man had stolen the stereo system out of the vehicle's dash.
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But the homeowner was not about to allow the man to escape that easily.
The husband and father jumped into the driver's seat of his SUV and gave chase as the man ran around the corner and got into a waiting car and drove away, Peplinski told police.
Peplinski described the vehicle as a light blue Honda Civic hatchback with several decals covering much of the rear window and a custom muffler.
While he followed, Peplinski called 911 to report the crime.
The dispatcher convinced Peplinski to stop his pursuit and allow the man to escape, according to the police report.
A day removed for the incident, Peplinski said he considers himself and the man who stole his stereo lucky.
"Why somebody would risk getting shot dead over stealing something simple like a car radio just makes no sense," Peplinski said.
