TikTok user Josie Bowers shared a video online where she described how her police officer stepfather’s tip may have saved her life.
The video in question has already gathered over 10 million views.
In the video, Bowers talks about an circumstance when she was just a teenager and a stranger was attempting to enter her hotel room. She demonstrates how a device may be smuggled into a hotel room door and how a stranger may try to open the door from the outside.
At the time of the incident, Bowers had been vacationing with her family in Ocean City, Maryland when the stranger had slid a tool under the hotel room door’s frame and used it to lower the door handle from the outside.
Bowers was only 15-years-old at the time and had been alone in the room. The remainder of her family was at the beach at the time.
She quickly gained popularity on TikTok after posting a series of videos in relation to this incident that she described as the “scariest moment” of her life.
“My main thought was holy s*** I’m in a towel right now and someone is about to break in and get me. So the door opens a crack, and I just slammed it back shut and put the deadbolt on.”
After slamming the door shut, the man on the other side claimed he was there to fix the door, which Bowers had doubts of.
“So they tell me your keycard is broken and we need to get into the room and fix your keypad for you,” she continued. “And so I open the door a tad bit, to see if it was a worker. It clearly wasn’t, they were in jeans and a T-shirt. Hilton keeps it pretty classy, not the attire.”
In the heat of this moment, Bowers was able to recall a tip she learned from her stepfather who is a police officer.
“So I think I’m very smart for this one, my stepdad is a police officer, he taught me never to let people know you’re alone.”
“I yelled ‘Hey dad, there’s someone here to fix the door.’ As soon as they thought that I wasn’t alone – and potentially my dad was there – they ran, they were gone.”
Bowers had hoped to share this scary experience to warn others about the risks of staying alone and inspire them to remain cautious.
“I’m glad I had this experience so I can teach people about it. Obviously, I’m safe but it could have ended up a lot worse,” she said. “Be safe, you can get door stoppers, always put on the deadbolt.”
