Car thief fails in the clutch, stick shift foils suspect, says LAPD

(CBS) LOS ANGELES - It just might be the first thing you learn at auto theft school: steal a car you can drive.

Police say one man's clumsiness with a manual transmission and clutch led him down the road to police custody, CBS Los Angeles reports.

Officials said the suspect was driving erratically about 4:50 a.m. in the Mid-City area of Los Angeles when officers spotted him.

According to CBS Los Angeles, authorities first saw the man near 18th Street and Westmoreland Avenue, according to LAPD Sgt. J. Kevany of the Olympic station.

"Officers saw the guy driving a stick shift - like he didn't know how to drive a stick shift," Kevany said. "He made eye contact with the officers and drove away."

Eventually, the suspect abandoned the "sticky vehicle." A perimeter was set up in the area and after three hours, the car-thief-that-couldn't was apprehended without incident.

Kevany had no description of the vehicle, other than its transmission.

Moral: He who double clutches is lost.