A woman shared her experience of being harassed and escaping a potential abduction at her local Pilates studio on TikTok.
Her story has been viewed over 1 million times, as commenters have swarmed the video with their support and gratitude for her spreading awareness.
User Jenn (@thejenncooke) shares in the video that she was attending a Pilates class last month. She says a man had followed her into the studio. He seemed out of place wearing cargo shorts to a fitness class, she adds, but nothing raised her suspicions immediately.
@thejenncooke I told the Pilates studio what happened today & they had security footage confirming everything and are taking action with police. 🚨BE AWARE🚨
♬ original sound – Jenn Cooke
After putting her stuff down, Jenn says she was headed to the bathroom when she noticed the man following her. She noted that she was not sure how long he may have been following her that day.
He then started to make aggressive conversation with her, she says, but she chalked it down to run-of-the-mill encounters with strangers.
“I just wrote him off, I just didn’t think anything of it,” she says in the video.
The situation turned serious when she returned to her station. Jenn claims a woman next to her said a man had been messing with her stuff while she was gone. The woman even allegedly saw him tamper with Jenn’s water bottle, raising alarm bells.
“So I didn’t drink out of my water bottle anymore, which I think is what saved me,” she recalls. “So don’t leave your water bottle anywhere, ever. Even in places you feel safe, like your home Pilates studio.”
Jenn says the man stared at her for the duration of the class, but she quickly left when it was over and called her mom.
While she was on the phone, she claims the man pulled up beside her in his car, allegedly cutting across two lanes of traffic to get next to her.
He began calling from his car to Jenn on the side of the street, “You’re single, right?” She says she then strategically ran to a point where his car couldn’t cut through and made it home safely.
In the video’s caption, Jenn stated that she is in contact with the Pilates studio which has surveillance footage and is “taking action with the police.”
Several viewers in the comments shared Jenn’s frustration, claiming they’ve heard similar stories of abductions.
“This is happening all across the country and it’s scary! I bought pepper spray, but ugh it sucks!” one user said.
Many also pointed out the heroic actions of the class partner, who told Jenn about her water bottle. Without her help, the situation may have been tragic, they said.
“The woman also played a role in saving your life by warning you about the water bottle!! This is so scary that we aren’t even safe in a Pilates studio,” one viewer wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to Jenn via Instagram direct message.
