Car Registered as Stolen Gets Big Response from Arlington Police

PHOTO: Arlington County Police, guns drawn, approach a car Monday afternoon on Glebe Road they believe was stolen. Photo courtesy of Patch reader

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A scene on Glebe Road likely alarmed some drivers in the area on Monday afternoon.

A DC driver heading down Glebe Road in Arlington Monday afternoon at about 5:30 p.m. was pulled over and surrounded by Arlington County Police officers, who drew guns because they thought the car was stolen, according to County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.

The driver had listed the car as stolen a year ago in DC after she had been out drinking and then couldn’t find her car, she told Arlington County Police officers, Sternbeck said.

After she found the car, she says she contacted DC Police and told them she found it. But the car was never removed from a “stolen car” database.

So when Arlington County Police got an automatic “hit” from its license plate reader that the car was stolen, they thought they were pulling over someone who had stolen the car, Sternbeck said.

Silver lining: “She was extremely thankful we could take the car out of the system,” Sternbeck said.

Sternbeck said the officers’ drawing their weapons is standard procedure when dealing with a situation where they believe the car is stolen.

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