﻿A man stole an idling Metro Mobility bus in St. Paul and drove it about three miles before he was stopped and arrested, according to police.

There were no clients on the bus, which provides public transportation for riders who have a disability or health condition.

Officers were called to the motor-vehicle theft in the West Seventh Street neighborhood at 6:45 p.m. Monday.

The driver told police he parked the bus at the SuperAmerica gas station at West Seventh Street and Otto Avenue and went inside to use the restroom, leaving the bus unlocked and running, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman.

A dispatcher informed responding officers that the bus’ GPS was being tracked and it showed the bus was eastbound on Shepard Road. Officers caught up with the bus as it was about to turn left onto Eagle Street, Ernster said.

Police arrested Vladimir Nestor Rodriguez Jr., 29, of Minneapolis. The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged him Tuesday with motor-vehicle theft.

Rodriguez didn’t talk to an investigator, “but he asked why he (had) been arrested saying he did not remember anything from the previous day,” according to the criminal complaint.

The Metro Mobility bus was operated by First Transit-East. The Roseville company is conducting an internal investigation, according to Bonnie Kollodge, spokeswoman for Metropolitan Council, which is charge of Metro Mobility. The driver was hired in October.