Thieves Busted Trying To Get Into Police Car In Columbia: HCPD

COLUMBIA, MD — Police said three boys were charged with theft after pulling car door handles in Columbia and taking items from unlocked vehicles. As luck would have it, one of the cars they attempted to get into was a police car — with an officer inside.

Officers from Majors Lane were preparing to serve a search warrant in an unrelated case this week when they said they witnessed boys pulling car door handles and going into two vehicles.

According to authorities, one of the car doors they tried was their own unmarked police vehicle that was occupied.

"You read that right. OCCUPIED POLICE CAR," the Howard County Police Department reported on its Facebook page.

Officers said they confronted the youths, who ran and were quickly taken into custody.

The 14-year-old boys — two from Columbia and one from Annapolis — were found with credit cards, IDs and cash, according to police. All were charged with theft.

Police said one of the boys had a knife on him, which is pictured below:

Photo courtesy of the Howard County Police Department.