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Bridgett Bolen of Hurley, Miss., sustained a broken hand after punching a man who had stolen her purse and keys from her car at a Mobile gas station. (Gareth Clary / gulflive.com)

(Updated on Oct. 30, 2013 at noon with Mobile police confirming this story was a hoax.)

A man made a series of poor choices on Friday at a Mobile gas station.

He decided to steal a purse. Then, he decided to steal the purse of Bridgett Bolen of Hurley, Miss.

Bolen quickly confronted the would-be thief with a kick to the groin and a punch to the face, leaving Harris sitting in Mobile Metro Jail with stitches under his left eye.

The incident took place Friday when Bolen, a nurse at Mobile OB/GYN at Providence Hospital, decided to vacuum her car at the Shell gas station on Airport Boulevard during her lunch break.

"I saw the man standing over there and he just looked creepy," Bolen said.

Bolen had the doors open on her Toyota Camry and was vacuuming the floor behind the driver's seat, when Harris approached and took her purse and keys off the front passenger's seat.

"I looked up and he was getting my purse and keys and I said, 'Ahhhh, no you didn't,''' Bolen said. "I don't know how I got to the other side of the car, whether I flew over the hood or what. I guess I ran around the back of the car."

When Bolen caught up to the 6-foot-4 Harris, he was near the front-right panel of her vehicle.

"I yelled 'Sir' and he turned around and I kicked him between the legs," Bolen said. "I was trying to pull my keys away and when he bent over and got about eye level, smack."

Bolen delivered a right jab to Harris' left eye.

"When he grabbed his face, I grabbed my keys and purse and ran," she said.

She ran into the station restroom, locked the door and didn't come out until Mobile police officers, who were quickly on the scene, assured her it was safe to emerge.

A woman who was also vacuuming her car nearby called 911. Two other men who witnessed the incident restrained Harris until the police arrived.

"I still can't believe it happened," Bolen said. "I didn't think. I just did it. People at church wanted me to start a self-defense class. It can happen. I never really thought it would happen to me, but you need to know what to do in case it does happen to you."

Later Friday, Bolen's hand was hurting and swollen, so she went to get X-rays, which revealed it was broken.