The Washington State Patrol arrested a 19-year-old Tacoma man for investigation of auto theft after he reportedly stole a truck and then called 911 after the vehicle stalled Dec. 29 along Highway 167 near Kent.

The incident started at about 5:30 a.m. that day, when an employee at City Transfer Inc., of Sumner, saw a man steal a silver 1985 Chevrolet truck from the company’s storage yard, according to a State Patrol media release.

At about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, another City Transfer employee driving southbound on Highway 167 spotted the stolen truck disabled on the left shoulder of southbound Highway 167, just north of the South 180th Street exit. The employee called 911 and reported that someone was in the truck.

Just a few minutes later, the Tacoma man called 911 to report the truck had run out of gas along the shoulder of Highway 167. When troopers contacted the man, he had put on a City Transfer green reflective jacket and tried to claim he worked for the company.

But the City Transfer employee who initially saw the man take the truck, came to the scene and identified the driver as the same man he saw earlier in the day at the storage yard.

State Patrol troopers and City Transfer employees discovered the truck stalled because the Tacoma man had filled the tank with unleaded gas when the truck required diesel.

The man eventually admitted that he had stolen the truck, said Dan McDonald, spokesman for the State Patrol. The man was booked into the King County jail.