A Pinson man is behind bars after leading Jefferson County sheriff's deputies on a low-speed chase in a stolen delivery truck early Wednesday.

It all began just after 4:30 a.m. when deputies responded to the 1200 block of Birchwood Street to investigate a report of a suspicious vehicle sitting in the road with lights on and no one around. They arrived and checked the car. It was not stolen, said Chief Deputy Randy Christian.

While checking the car, a citizen informed them that a man had just stolen a Kenworth T-300 flatbed delivery truck nearby. Deputies spotted the truck as it turned on to Huffman Road and attempted to stop the vehicle.

The driver - later identified as 29-year-old Randy Dewayne Vert - refused to stop and continued driving south on Center Point Parkway, Christian said. Vert was apparently unfamiliar with the complexities of a modern manual transmission, he said, and was unable to get the truck out of first gear.

The truck traveled at speeds of 25-30 mph on to I-59 south. Deputies followed the truck along I-59 south to Bush Boulevard where the transmission seized and the truck stopped. Vert was removed from the truck and arrested.

He is charged with first-degree theft of property, reckless endangerment, attempting to elude and resisting arrest. He was booked into the Jefferson County jail shortly before 7 a.m. and remains in lockup with bonds totaling $5,900.

"Thank God he couldn't find second gear, the pursuit could have gotten all the way up to 35 mph,'' Christian said.