As a St. Paul woman spread salt on her slippery sidewalk, someone jumped into her idling pickup truck and tried to take off in it, authorities say.

She started her 2007 Toyota Tacoma to warm it while she cleaned off the sidewalk in front of her East Side home on the 1400 block of Fremont Avenue around 7:30 a.m. Friday.

That’s when she saw Kong Meng Thao, 28, get into the truck, which was parked in front of the house, according to a criminal complaint filed against him Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court.

The woman yelled and her son came out and managed to hop into the truck’s unlocked passenger seat, charges say.

The Tacoma’s tires spun in the snow and barely moved forward.

The woman’s son punched Thao, stopped the pickup, and pushed Thao out of it, the complaint said. He detained Thao until police arrived and arrested him, authorities say.

Thao declined to give a statement to officers, according to the complaint.

The St. Paul man was convicted of a felony in 2018 for making violent threats.

No attorney was listed for him in court records.

St. Paul police continue to see “extremely high” numbers of vehicles stolen when they’re left running and unattended, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman. In most cases, someone starts a car to warm its engine, goes back indoors and comes out to find it gone.

But Friday’s case was “very brazen,” Ernster said.

Police are still asking people not to leave their cars unattended and running “because it provides an opportunity for someone to easily take it,” Ernster said.

Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this report.