What he saw was anything but a normal fast-food dispute.
According to reports, a 53-year-old woman was inside the restaurant swinging and slamming a large wooden stick against the counter.
The piece of wood reportedly resembled a heavy branch and had broken in a way that left one end dangerously pointed.
With the situation escalating, employees retreated toward the back of the restaurant.
Opperman could have stayed inside his vehicle.
He could have called police and waited.
He could have pulled out his phone and recorded what was happening from the safety of the parking lot.
Instead, the 20-year-old decided to act.
Opperman reportedly got out of his vehicle, raced toward the drive-thru and launched himself feet-first directly through the service window.
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The entrance was so spectacular that one witness reportedly compared it to something straight out of an action movie, describing it as “Spider-Man” or a “Jackie Chan move.”
There was actually a good reason Opperman was capable of pulling off such an unusual entrance.
The college student is reportedly a former parkour instructor who also participates in freestyle trampolining.
Those skills suddenly became very useful inside an In-N-Out kitchen.
After making it through the window, Opperman needed something to defend himself.
He grabbed what was available: a metal spatula.
The result was one of the more unusual showdowns imaginable — a young college student holding a burger spatula against a woman allegedly swinging a sharpened piece of wood.
Opperman described the moment himself.
“I’m holding the spatula, wielding my spatula and yelling at her, ‘Get out of here! Get out of here!’” Opperman recalled.
But the confrontation apparently did not end there.
The woman allegedly continued swinging the stick toward him, forcing Opperman to decide whether to retreat or attempt to disarm her.
He chose the latter.
Opperman reportedly lowered his shoulder, rushed toward the woman and managed to wrestle the stick away from her.
The immediate threat was over.
Even more remarkably, nobody was reported injured during the confrontation.
According to a witness cited in reports about the incident, the bizarre episode allegedly began because the woman was angry about how long it was taking for her food to be prepared.
If accurate, that means a complaint over fast-food service allegedly escalated into employees fleeing for safety while a customer smashed restaurant property with a piece of wood.
It ultimately took a 20-year-old customer with parkour experience — and a spatula — to bring the chaos to an end.
Law enforcement soon became involved.
Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies later found the woman outside the restaurant and took her into custody without further trouble.
Authorities identified the suspect as 53-year-old Redlands resident Antonieta Sanchez.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Sanchez was booked at the Southwest Detention Center on suspicion of felony vandalism and brandishing a weapon.
Fortunately, authorities reported no injuries.
Opperman’s actions also caught the attention of In-N-Out leadership.
Chief Operating Officer Denny Warnick praised the young man’s willingness to intervene and said the company personally thanked him for what he did.
The episode is a reminder that courage sometimes appears in the most unexpected places.
Opperman was not a police officer responding to a call. He was not a security guard assigned to protect the restaurant.
He was simply a 20-year-old waiting for his meal when he reportedly saw workers facing a potentially dangerous situation.
When everyone else had good reason to seek safety, he made the split-second decision to put himself between the employees and the alleged threat.
His unconventional background gave him an advantage.
His willingness to use it made the difference.
There was no superhero costume, no elaborate weapon and certainly no time for a plan.
There was a drive-thru window, a frightened group of workers, an alleged attacker with a jagged stick — and one college student who decided he wasn’t going to sit in his car and watch.
Seconds later, Opperman was flying through the window.
And when he landed, apparently all he needed was a spatula and a whole lot of nerve.
