Arlington police search for unsuccessful chain gang

Three masked men who tried to steal an ATM using a chain and a stolen truck last week failed miserably at both the theft and — in one suspect’s case — keeping pants on, a surveillance video released Monday shows.

Police released the video hoping to identify the chain gang.

The attempted theft occurred about 4 a.m. Wednesday at a convenience store in the 900 block of Watson Road, near Texas 360 and Interstate 30.

On the video, a man walks into the store with a chain and tries to get a chain around an ATM near the front door.

His first problem is that the chain isn’t long enough to go around the ATM. Once he gets enough chain, he has a problem hooking the chain together. His sagging pants also presented an an obstacle, as they fell off, showing his bright red boxers.

In 33 seconds, the suspect had the chain tied around the ATM and hooked to the truck but when the truck moved forward, the ATM didn’t budge. Two suspects returned to adjust the chain, but after a few more attempts all the suspects ran away, abandoning the truck, which had been stolen in Dallas.

Two clerks were in the store during the attempted theft, but they never tried to stop the thieves because they didn’t need to.

A man in the parking lot saw the suspects running away and tried to stop them with pepper spray, but it had no impact on them.

Anyone with information should call Arlington police at 817-459-5782 or Crime Stoppers at 817-469-8477.

This story was originally published April 13, 2015 at 2:43 PM with the headline "Arlington police search for unsuccessful chain gang."