Police: Man tries to steal car left to warm, thwarted by manual transmission

An Oregon man is in jail Tuesday after police said he tried to steal a car left to warm in a driveway and failed because he didn't know how to use the car's manual transmission.

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Washington County sheriff's deputies arrested Jakob Crume, 20, on suspicion of unlawful entry and use of a motor vehicle, among other charges.

He was booked into Washington County Jail Saturday, hours after police first started searching for him in connection with a reported assault.

Deputies were alerted around 1:30 a.m. Saturday to a fight at a home in Cornelius. Crume, the alleged attacker, left the area before deputies arrived.

Deputies attempted to track him with the help of a K-9, but he managed to escape arrest.

About four and a half hours later, a woman reported that a man had tried to take her car while it was warming in her driveway. The car had a manual transmission.

"She reported that he apparently was not able to drive a manual transmission," Washington County deputies said in a news release. "Frustrated, the man ran from the scene."

Deputies identified Crume as the would-be car thief and sent another K-9 team to find him, to no avail.

He was apprehended just before 8 a.m. when a deputy spotted a "very tired"-looking Crume near South 20th Avenue and Baseline Street, deputies said.

Authorities booked Crume into Washington County Jail on Saturday morning. He is charged with fourth-degree assault and violating the terms of his probation along with the car theft-related accusations.

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