An Oregon man is in jail Tuesday after police said he tried to steal a car left to warm in a driveway and failed because he didn't know how to use the car's manual transmission.

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Washington County sheriff's deputies arrested Jakob Crume, 20, on suspicion of unlawful entry and use of a motor vehicle, among other charges.

He was booked into Washington County Jail Saturday, hours after police first started searching for him in connection with a reported assault.

Deputies were alerted around 1:30 a.m. Saturday to a fight at a home in Cornelius. Crume, the alleged attacker, left the area before deputies arrived.

Deputies attempted to track him with the help of a K-9, but he managed to escape arrest.

About four and a half hours later, a woman reported that a man had tried to take her car while it was warming in her driveway. The car had a manual transmission.

"She reported that he apparently was not able to drive a manual transmission," Washington County deputies said in a news release. "Frustrated, the man ran from the scene."

Deputies identified Crume as the would-be car thief and sent another K-9 team to find him, to no avail.

He was apprehended just before 8 a.m. when a deputy spotted a "very tired"-looking Crume near South 20th Avenue and Baseline Street, deputies said.

Authorities booked Crume into Washington County Jail on Saturday morning. He is charged with fourth-degree assault and violating the terms of his probation along with the car theft-related accusations.

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Peggy Harris (foreground) stocks the shelves at Sandy's IGA, which is the only grocery store in town, Tuesday, October 7, 2025, in Sparta. Hancock County has one of the highest rates of childhood food insecurity in the country. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC