Man tries to fix flat tires with gauze and Band-Aids. Deputies take him to jail

A 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs Tuesday morning after sheriff’s deputies found him trying to patch the tires of a minivan using gauze and Band-Aids, authorities said.

An “alert citizen” saw the man near Felipe Road and Barbadanes in Mission Viejo about 6 a.m. and called authorities, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s Mission Viejo Police Services team said in a Facebook post.

Deputies found that both of the man’s driver’s side tires were flat and that he was trying to repair them using gauze and Band-Aids, the post said.

They arrested the man, whose identity was not released, on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs and took him to jail. Under California law, being under the influence of any controlled substance not prescribed by a doctor is illegal.

Investigators called the incident “another great example of the teamwork between our alert community and your deputies,” and encouraged residents to continue reporting “suspicious activity.”