Car Thief Busted After Braking To Watch Eclipse, Buy Eye Mask: Sheriff

It was an arrest “that only happens every 99 years,” according to a Florida sheriff’s department.

A suspected car thief’s run from the law ended when authorities say he pulled over to watch Monday’s solar eclipse, only to be nabbed by trailing deputies.

Jocsan Feliciano Rosado, 22, was being pursued by the Orange County Sheriff’s Auto Theft Unit when he allegedly pulled into a Kissimmee parking lot to purchase a welder’s mask to protect his eyes from the sun. Once back at his vehicle, Rosado proceeded to watch the eclipse, the sheriff’s department said.

“He never saw it coming,” authorities said of his arrest in a Facebook post on Monday.

“As Rosado was standing in the parking lot next to the stolen car, with the welding helmet on and looking up at the eclipse, deputies swooped in and made an arrest,” the sheriff’s department said.

“That only happens every 99 years,” the department joked, referencing the rarity of both Rosado’s arrest and Monday’s event, which was the first such coast-to-coast spectacle since 1918.

As far as whether a welder’s mask could have protected Rosado’s eyes ― or anyone else’s eyes who used a similar mask ― NASA recommended that any welding mask should have a shade number of 12 or higher to be effective. They warned that most hoods don’t meet that standard.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.