Police: Oakdale man stole vehicle from Sonora home but couldn’t drive it away

Police officials say an Oakdale man stole a car from a home Monday evening but couldn’t drive it away, so he ran from officers before he was apprehended and arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft.

Along with the vehicle theft charge, Joshua Steven Ryan, 21, was arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest, the Sonora Police Department announced Tuesday on its Facebook page.

The incident began about 5 p.m. Monday with a call to police from a witness who spotted what appeared to be a disabled 2003 Honda Pilot. The witness said the disabled vehicle was in the road along the 400 block of South Stewart Street, between William and Gold streets in Sonora.

Officers arrived in the area and tried to approach the man, later identified as Ryan, who was presumed to be associated with the disabled vehicle. But Ryan ran away and led the officer in a chase toward downtown Sonora, police said.

The officers quickly caught up to the suspect and took him into custody. Police later learned the Honda Pilot had been stolen from the home along South Stewart Street.

On Wednesday, Sgt. Tim Wertz said Ryan was able to push the vehicle out of the home’s driveway, but the suspect was unable to drive it out of the neighborhood.

Honda never started

Wertz said Ryan appeared to have tried to start the Honda Pilot’s engine with a “bump start,” a technique used in the past to start a vehicle by pushing it and engaging its manual transmission with its clutch.

But the Honda Pilot has an automatic transmission, Wertz said. The Honda Pilot was pushed out of the home’s driveway Monday and stopped on the road; its engine never started.

Ryan was booked at the Tuolumne County Jail, and his bail was set at $10,000. Police officials said they were investigating whether Ryan was responsible for another theft earlier Monday.

This story was originally published March 6, 2019 at 8:11 AM.