A bumbling thief in Colorado carjacked a truck that was pulling a camper — which was carrying a sleeping couple who awoke during the joyride and called the cops.
And when the suspect was pulled over by police following a brief chase in Boulder, he claimed “he was just test driving” the stolen wheels, authorities said.
The wild ordeal unfolded as the couple and their dog were asleep in a friend’s camper parked outside her apartment when, in the middle of the night, someone broke into the pickup truck attached to the camper and sped off, according to police.
“The couple and their dog stayed quiet so the thief wouldn’t know they were inside and called for help,” Boulder Police said in a statement.
Police located the vehicle around 3 a.m. and flashed their lights — but the driver refused to pull over.
Instead, the truck sped up until it made a turn onto a dead-end street where police finally stopped and arrested the driver.
“What seems to be the problem officer? Will you please tell me?” the suspect, identified as 47-year-old David Bradley Metz, asks as a cop puts him in handcuffs, according to bodycam footage shared by the department.
“The truck that you just took had the owners in the back,” the cop responded.
“I didn’t take it, sir,” the suspect protests.
“I was just test driving it,” he adds.
“At 3 in the morning?” the cop asks.
The clip later shows police opening the back door of the camper.
They ask the victims if they’re OK, to which they respond “we are” although they were shaken up, police said.
There did not appear to be any damage to the truck or the camper, a police spokesperson told The Post.
The suspect, who’s previously been convicted of motor vehicle theft, was charged with second-degree motor vehicle theft, two counts of reckless endangerment, vehicular eluding, carrying a concealed knife and failure to appear in court for a previous theft case.
He has an additional three prior arrests for motor vehicle thefts — including one in Boulder in March.