TORONTO -- Wisconsin police said that a group of would-be car thieves were thwarted by a car’s manual transmission – prompting them to abandon the vehicle.
“It turns out some young car thieves are not adept at driving stick shift,” the Madison Police Department incident report says.
Police said homeowners contacted authorities after they were burglarized overnight Thursday, when criminals took advantage of an unlocked car parked in the driveway, “hit the garage door opener, and were soon in the house.”
The report says the thieves stole a purse and car keys, but when they went back to the car and started it they “apparently lost interest after finding it was a manual transmission.”
Police said the thieves took off with the purse, but left the vehicle. The purse was later recovered inside a stolen car located in another town, the report said.
