Seattle Carjacker Takes Off Without Car After Learning Its Stick Shift, Police Say

— -- An armed man who tried to steal a Ford Mustang ended fleeing without the car, and Seattle police say it may be because he doesn't know how to drive stick shift.

A woman was in a Wendy's parking lot Thursday night when a man approached and asked for directions, Seattle police said in a statement.

The man pointed a gun at the victim's head and pulled her out of her 1998 Ford Mustang, police said. She fell to the ground, but managed to escape and ran to the restaurant to call 911.

When officers responded, they found the victim's Mustang still in the parking lot. According to police, the carjacker might not know how to operate the car's manual transmission.

"He couldn't get the car moving," Seattle Police Detective Patrick Michaud said today. "He gets into the car, he grinds the gears for a little bit, gets it to roll a little bit, but realizes he's not able to drive it away. Then he ditches the car."

It was unknown whether the victim was injured, Michaud said.

The carjacker was still at-large today, police said. A witness described the suspect as a skinny black man in his late teens or early 20s, police said, and he may have fled in a gold minivan.