Say what?

A man with a stuffed toy strapped to his chest stole a car from an auto repair shop in Butler.

That's what city police say happened shortly after 8:30 a.m. Friday at Joe's Auto Repair on East Jefferson Street.

The man sped off in the hot wheels but not before hitting a customer's unoccupied car at the shop.

The alleged thief made it all the way to Lawrence County, with troopers in pursuit before he ditched the car and ran.

State police a short time later captured him in the woods. The man, however, had no identification on him and police initially were having a hard time figuring out who he was.

In time, he was identified.

Anders M. Svenning, 27, who is homeless, was later arraigned on a felony charge of receiving stolen property and misdemeanor charges of fleeing or attempting to elude police and false identification to law enforcement authorities.

He also was cited for six traffic violations including driving without a license.

Owner Robert Acquavita said he was in the bay with a customer when he first noticed the suspect in his shop. The unknown man was difficult to miss, but not because of his estimated 6-foot, 3-inch frame.

“He was carrying a big Teddy bear,” Acquavita said.

Butler police Capt. James Hollobaugh said police believe the stuffed animal was actually a fox, and the toy appeared to be somehow strapped to the man's chest.

The stranger seemed to be “lurking” around and “looked suspicious,” the officer said.

Before the man appeared at the car shop, police said, he was “hanging around” the nearby Honey Bear convenience store for up to an hour.

Police later obtained images of the man — and the stuffed toy — from surveillance video at the store.

At the auto shop, he asked for a ride to Ohio, Hollobaugh said, before he walked away from Acquavita's sight. Moments later, he was seen driving a customer's 2005 Toyota Corolla.

The suspect, police said, had managed to find the key to the car in the shop. The owner of the car, a woman in her 70s, was at church when her car was taken.

The alleged crook struck another customer's car before speeding away east on East Jefferson Road, also known as Route 68.

Svenning eventually traveled onto Route 422 westbound where another motorist called 911 to report an “erratic driver” in a maroon car near the outskirts of Moraine State Park, Hollobaugh said.

State police in Lawrence County spotted the car on Route 422 in Shenango Township. The trooper hit his cruiser's emergency lights and siren but the suspect did not stop.

A second officer approaching in the opposite direction turned around at an emergency crossing, pulled his cruiser back onto the highway in front of the stolen car.

Svenning, however, drove around the patrol car and traveled onto the Interstate 376 east ramp in Union Township, just a few miles west of New Castle, police said.

“The (defendant) suddenly pulled into the grassy median,” according to court documents, “and bailed out of the moving car.”

Svenning jumped over a guardrail and ran into the nearby woods, police said. Three officers chased after and quickly caught him — more than 30 miles from the alleged scene of the crime in Butler.

State police filed the charges for which Svenning was arraigned Friday.

Hollobaugh said city police would likely file an additional hit-and-run charge for the getaway crash at the auto repair lot.