COEUR d'ALENE — Goodies Conoco cashier Travis Morris picked the right time to engage in his first physical altercation.

When Morris noticed one of the convenience store's regulars being ripped from her car Monday morning, the 28-year-old bolted from his register to stymie the potential carjacking.

Frances Olson was waiting in her idling 2008 Saturn when a man frantically approached the driver's side window, demanding she give up the keys.

"He broke the window with something that looked like a cellphone," Olson said. "He started yelling 'Get out of the car! Unlock it!' but there was no way in hell I was going to give up my car."

Typically reserved, according to co-workers, the 5-foot-9, 200-pound Morris ran toward the commotion to thwart the man. Another customer, who was getting coffee, also decided to help take the man down.

Morris said he held the man in a choke-hold until authorities arrived.

"I just reacted," Morris said. "I intended to confront him verbally and keep him around until the cops got there, but when he tried to steal her car I had to step in."

As it turned out, Coeur d'Alene Police officers were chasing the man, 22-year-old Dwight J. Higgins of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Officers had earlier attempted to make a traffic stop on Higgins, who was suspected of car burglary. Higgins, who had a female passenger, allegedly sped away before crashing over a guardrail on westbound Interstate 90 behind the the Conoco on Appleway. The two reportedly fled the disabled SUV.

Police said the pair ran through the snow and across the Conoco parking lot before Higgins allegedly tried to steal Olson's vehicle. The woman, Victoria V. Calloway, 22, of Florida, watched from behind the car.

"He was yelling for her to call his mama," Morris said of Higgins as he was being arrested. Calloway was also arrested at the scene.

Higgins was booked for three counts of burglary, robbery, eluding, and leaving the scene of an accident. Calloway was booked for three counts of burglary and criminal conspiracy.

Morris didn't think Higgins had a weapon when he approached him.

"I figured if he wasn't using a gun to get (Olson) out of the car, he probably didn't have a gun." Morris said. "If he was that desperate, he wouldn't have been using his hands to break the window."

Olson put up a fight against Higgins herself, she said, until Morris and the other customer quickly intervened.

"I may be 5-foot-8, but when I got out of my car that day, I was 7-foot tall," Olson said.

Olson, who said she always buys a pack of cigarettes at Goodies Conoco before her shift at nearby JB's Restaurant, was thankful for Morris.

"He didn't have to come out of those doors, but I am a regular there," she said. "(Higgins) messed with the wrong group of people that day. It could have been a much worse situation."

Watch video of the altercation here: https://t.co/YwJY0ehfPK.