Police arrest shoplifting suspect hiding in trunk of Tesla

IRVINE, Calif. - Police in Irvine arrested a shoplifting suspect after they said she was hiding from the cops in the trunk of a Tesla. 

It happened around 2 p.m. on Aug. 14, at the Irvine Spectrum Center. Officers said they got a report that a woman was shoplifting at Sephora. They found her and tried to stop her, police said, but she continued into the parking lot.

Officers lost her in the parking lot, but said that a bystander flagged them down and told them the woman they were looking for got into a white Tesla and crawled into the trunk.

The Irvine Police Department posted body camera footage of the interaction on its Instagram page. Officers opened the trunk and found the woman, identified as 35-year-old Emely Yanagida of San Marcos, curled up in the trunk, under a green blanket.

In the video, an officer can be heard asking the woman "Why are you hiding in your trunk?" She responded by saying "because I was scared."

The IPD said officers found about $850 worth of stolen merchandise from Sephora and Lululemon in the car. They arrested her for possessing burglary tools, resisting arrest and shoplifting.