In what should have been an uneventful trip to celebrate a joyous occasion, three out-of-state men found themselves in handcuffs after a rental car mix-up in Glendale, Arizona. According to FOX 10 Phoenix , the men had come to town for a baby shower and rented a vehicle through Turo, a peer-to-peer car rental service akin to Airbnb for cars. The travelers from Maryland had no idea that the blue Dodge Charger they had rented was flagged in the city's Real Time Crime Center as stolen mere hours after they had picked it up.

The stop unfolded dramatically with Glendale police surrounding the vehicle and preparing for what looked like a standoff with suspected vehicle thieves. "Our real time crime center is able to give them a description of the last people seen in the vehicle. Our officer arrives on the scene, spots the individuals in the car and a felony stop is made at that point," Jose Santiago from Glendale PD told FOX 10 Phoenix . Bodycam footage showed the subsequent detention of the men, as officers sought to unravel the situation.

After a tense 20 minutes, it was determined that the situation was indeed a misunderstanding. The Turo host had previously reported the car as stolen, and after its recovery, failed to have it removed from the police's stolen vehicle database. Turo confirmed these details and issued a statement expressing regret for the incident. "Mr. Asante and his brothers experienced an unfortunate situation that never should have happened. After learning about this incident, we discovered that the host had previously reported this vehicle as stolen, but it was not removed from the police's stolen vehicle database after it was recovered," a spokesperson said in a statement obtained by FOX 10 Phoenix .

Jose Miguel Santiago, the public safety community manager for the City of Glendale, advised users to vet their rental sources carefully. "Make sure that you are renting from a individual that has positive reviews, or have rented from before," Santiago said in a statement to Arizona's Family . This mishap has led Turo to explore partnership options with the National Insurance Crime Bureau to prevent similar occurrences and to ensure the safety and legitimacy of their rentals moving forward.

In the end, the police drove the men back to their Airbnb, and Turo issued the renters a full refund. The incident has shone a light on the potential pitfalls of app-based car rentals and the critical importance of up-to-date record-keeping to avoid such mix-ups in the future.