Nashville Carjackers Deterred by Manual Transmission

There’s no security system quite like a third pedal.

byJames Gilboy|
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A pair of would-be vehicle thieves in Nashville, Tennessee were shrugged off by their inability to operate a manual transmission.

According to a release by the Midtown Hills Precinct police from Thursday, two teens aged 15 and 17 approached an occupied car inside a parking garage around 6:20 p.m. on Wednesday. They walked around to both sides of the vehicle, opened the doors, and demanded the driver get out of her vehicle. The perpetrator on the driver's side attempted to pull her from the car, but she laid on the horn and the teens scattered. The driver sustained minor injuries, reportedly declining treatment, and reported the incident to law enforcement, who began a watch.

At approximately 7:20 pm, the same pair of teens snatched keys from the hand of a woman who had just parked her car at a Kroger. They hopped into the vehicle, but after a few seconds, they exited, apparently unable to start the vehicle because of its manual transmission.

The teens reportedly fled on foot but were rounded up a short time later by local law enforcement and identified as the attempted perpetrators of the above. Both have been charged in the Juvenile Court system with attempted theft of a vehicle, theft of property, and attempted robbery/carjacking, according to the official release.

Similar stories surface once every few months. March saw a pair of kids fail to steal a pizza delivery car, and approximately a year ago, a serial carjacker in Canada was tripped up by a third pedal. Failed carjackings don't always end in a comical flight into the hands of law enforcement, however, as some carjackers take out their frustration on the car's owner.

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