Motorists may want to think twice before leaving their cars running while darting inside a shop to run an errand.
On Saturday, Feb. 28, a Bristol man pulled his 1998 black Nissan Pathfinder into a parking space outside Vienna Bakery on Maple Avenue. With temperatures hovering in the 20s, he decided to leave the engine running.
A few minutes later he exited the bakery with his goods in-hand, only to discover that someone had stolen his car. The man went back inside the shop and told workers there what had happened, although he had a sneaking suspicion that the apparent stolen car may have been a case of mistaken identity.
The man told folks inside the bakery that another similar looking Pathfinder — a gray-colored 1999 model — was parked right next to where his vehicle had been located. A few minutes later, a 22 year-old Barrington woman called the bakery, having just realized that she had driven home the wrong Nissan.
The woman told police she had borrowed her brother’s car to run the errand to the bakery and mistakenly jumped in the wrong car when leaving.
The vehicles were later reunited with their rightful owners. No one was charged.