Florida Man Tries To Steal Police Car With Officer Still Inside

Florida Man never ceases to amaze. This time, one has to wonder what exactly was going through his mind. A Florida man attempted to steal a marked police car while it sat outside the police station, with the officer still inside the car. And yes, the officer was sitting in the driver's seat. [insert "palm to forehead" emoji here]

On July 17th, around 5:00 am, Fort Pierce Officer Robie Troutman sat in his patrol car with the engine running. Officer Troutman was writing up a report; just business as usual. But then a very unexpected thing happened.

“While in my vehicle, I heard the rear passenger side door handle make noise and then the front passenger side door handle make noise, where I was positioned seated in the driver seat of my clearly marked Fort Pierce Police Department Patrol vehicle,” said Officer Troutman in a police report. 

If there was any doubt that this was, in fact, a police car (this is what their patrol cars look like), please keep in mind that the car was sitting in front of the Fort Pierce Police Station. If you were unaware, this is where a large collection of police work. The parking lot is filled with cars that say "police" on the side of them. The building says "police" on it. The only things missing are some flashing lights and siren to let you know it's the police.

Officer Troutman opened the car door and saw 20-year-old Aaron Orlando Rodriguez III scamper away. Rodriquez was found hiding behind another car. It's not clear if it was another police car, but there's a good chance it was.

“Rodriguez said he saw my vehicle was running so he attempted to steal the vehicle so he had a ride home,” said Troutman.

Rodriquez was arrested and charged with attempted grand theft of a motor vehicle, loitering and prowling and possession of drug equipment. It seems Rodriquez had a pipe with marijuana residue on his person when he was arrested. I guess if you are trying to steal a police car with a cop sitting in it, from outside the police station, you probably aren't concerned about being caught with drugs.