The red Mini Cooper parked in Modified by KC's lot looked familiar to shop owner Ryan Charlton.
"I noticed the car was a lowered car with wheels on it," said Charlton.
The shirtless and shoeless driver of the car had just asked if Charlton wanted to buy the modified seats inside, but the company doesn't take in used parts, so he sent him away before looking at the car.
Charlton thought it was the same Red Mini Cooper shown in a post shared on social media by Craig Wilcox. Wilcox said in the post his modified car was stolen and he was offering a $5,000 reward.
"I walked out there and said, 'Hey maybe I am interested in those seats,'" said Charlton. "So I got him back inside, enticing him with cash. When I got him in, that's when I locked the door behind me and said, 'Hey I'm going to grab the phone real quick.'"
Charlton called police and pretended to grab tools and get ready to take out the seats in order to buy time for police.
Eventually he went to open the main door and head out to the car. He told the driver he left his keys upstairs in the office. The driver followed him.
"That's when I got the weapon, clipped it on my leg, then just opened the door and he was standing right there," said Charlton. "[I] said, 'All right. I know where the car is. I know where it came, from just sit and relax.'"
The driver was arrested by KCK police for reportedly stealing the car from Grain Valley.
"They were like, man, that's a great job," said Charlton.
Is a "citizen's arrest" legal?
Most KC metro lawyers 41 Action News talked to agree that what Charlton did could be argued as illegal but falls under "a gray area."
"There's a couple of issues," said KC defense attorney Ross Nigro. "First of all, when he invites the person back into the shop and then locks the doors, you have possibly a false imprisonment claim."
Nigro says the other issue involves Charlton's use of the gun.
"Even though he didn't point it at the individual, just by having your gun out could be deemed unlawful use of a weapon," said Nigro.
But Nigro and other lawyers say those claims could be argued against using citizen's arrest and fear for safety claims.
"The fact that the individual did have a stolen car probably keeps him from being charged criminally because he's more of a hero than a criminal," said Nigro, who cautions anyone to just call police and let them do the rest.
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Brian Abel can be reached at brian.abel@kshb.com.
