8-year-old girl fights off kidnapper with 'Kung Fu' move

The girl applied pressure on the intruder's neck until he dropped her and she ran for help

An eight-year-old girl used a Kung Fu move to fight off a male intruder who broke into their house in the middle of the night and tried to drag her out of the house.

“I would have woken up to an empty bed,” the girl’s mother, Janie Sue, told KTVU. "I just can’t comprehend that story.”

The intruder broke into the house in El Cajon, California, around 4am Sunday morning by entering through a downstairs window, according to a police statement.

He then went to the girl’s bedroom, which she shared with her six-year-old brother, while her parents were sleeping.

The girl, who remains unidentified, said: “A burglar picked me up. I woke up on the stairs.”

He “smelt like garbage”, according to the young girl.

She said she applied pressure to his neck, and when he dropped her she ran to her parents’ room for help.

He left the front door open when he fled the house.

The victim did not appear to be injured and nothing was stolen from the house, El Cajon police Lieutenant Rob Ransweiler told KSWB.

The family has installed a new home security system.

“She’s scared but she’s also empowered,” her mother said.

"She’s going to be even safer because we’re going to protect her even better now. Not being naive that something bad isn’t going to happen to us.”

Police used search dogs to find the intruder but have not yet located him.

He was described as a “very tanned” white man, wearing a backpack.