A Pasadena woman thought she was in her car alone until a man popped up in her back seat.

“He popped up and was like drive, just (expletive) drive. If you don’t drive, I’ll kill you,” said the 22-year-old college student, who wants to remain anonymous.

The young woman tells Eyewitness News she was scared to death.

It happened last Saturday evening. She says the man must have gotten in her car while she was getting food at a restaurant on Fairmont Parkway near the E. Beltway in Pasadena.

The man made it clear he had nothing to lose.

“Another thing he said was, ‘I did 15 years, I’m not going back.’ And I was like, ‘I need to get out right now,'” she said.

A red light at the intersection of Vista and the E. Beltway presented her chance to escape. When she jumped out, he did, too, but ran in the opposite direction.

“I would have crashed my car if I had to. I was not going to go somewhere by myself with this guy in my back seat,” she said.

The young woman describes him as a white male, 5 feet 3 inches tall, with a thin build. He had a mustache and tattoos on his arms.

Pasadena police are investigating and for the woman, it’s a lesson learned.

“Lock your cars. Someone could be in there.”