

Our thief needed a helping hand (Photo via Shutterstock)

A suspected car thief led the cops on a very, very brief chase earlier this morning in Echo Park—apparently because he couldn't handle a stick shift.

Officers noticed the stolen Nissan 350Z at Sunset Boulevard and North Alvarado Street around 1:10 a.m., and chased it down to near West Temple Street before the 29-year old man abandoned the sports car and its passenger inside because he had trouble handling its manual transmission. City News Service reports that the sports car was reported stolen in San Diego six days ago, which, yes, raises the question as how this guy managed to get the car all the way to L.A. if he couldn't handle it.

The passenger, a 24-year old woman, was arrested for an outstanding traffic warrant, and the driver was found less than a half hour later hiding in an alleyway.

Stick shift: a better theft deterrent than The Club!