Manual Transmission Foils Car Theft for the Billionth Time – Info Computing

Nashville police arrested two teenagers last Wednesday, after a press release from the department said they attempted to carjack two women that day. The statement said the teens ultimately failed both times, with the second being because the car had a manual transmission. They had to run away on foot.

The press release linked in an RNN wire story said the teens, identified in the statement as “young men” who were 15 and 17, tried to carjack two women Wednesday night and failed both times. The first time, the release said, a woman was in her vehicle in a parking garage. They ran up to the car, “one on each side,” and “yelled for her to get out” before trying to pull her out.

The woman yelled and held down the horn before the two ran off, the release said. It also said she had minor injuries, but declined treatment.

Apparently unscathed by that failed attempt, the statement said the teens tried again an hour later at around 7:30 p.m. local time. A woman had just parked her car at Kroger and was walking toward the store when one of them grabbed the keys out of her hand, according to the release, and both of them got into the car.

“After a few seconds, they exited the car and fled on foot, apparently unable to drive a manual transmission,” the press release said.

Ah, the “person attempts to steal car before noticing it has three (!) pedals and numbers (!) on the shifter” plot line almost never gets old. Neither does the “person who isn’t actually familiar with a manual transmission gets a glaringly wrong tattoo celebrating the manual transmission” plot line, but that one is slightly more rare.

Fleeing a scene on foot is also probably far less efficient with your head hanging down in shame, and, alas, police caught the teens later that night and took them into custody.

The release said they were both charged with attempted robbery and carjacking, theft of property, and attempted theft of a vehicle in juvenile court—even if said attempt(s) were very bad ones.