Always knock before entering.
A 23-year-old man in Shizuoka Prefecture was arrested on Thursday after he allegedly tried to steal a parked car which he mistakenly thought was unoccupied.
According to police, on September 25 at about 12:30 a.m., Ushio Sato, a 23-year-old company worker from the Aichi city of Anjo, spotted a car in a parking lot in the Shizuoka city of Numazu. For whatever reason, when Sato saw this parked car, he seems to have thought it would be an easy car to steal, because that’s exactly what he tried to do.
Sato’s late night car heist seems to have begun about as well as it could have because when he tried to open the car door he found that it was unlocked. However, things quickly went south for Sato when after opening the door he realized that this parked car, which had seemed completely unoccupied when he had approached it moments earlier, had somebody inside it and tha somebody was a police officer.
Sato, who apparently is not good at coming up with excuses on the spot (“Sorry officer, I’m a bit drunk and I thought this was my car!”) chose to flee the scene after noticing the police officer inside. However, he didn’t get very far since the police officer he had disturbed quickly managed to catch up to him, capture him and arrest him on the spot.
Sato has admitted to the charges, reportedly telling the police officer that captured him “I tried to steal the car.”
Apparently the police officer in the car was on standby with his engine off while working on an investigation when Sato paid him a visit.
