University Police arrested an individual unaffiliated with this university after conducting a traffic stop in front of the varsity team house Wednesday afternoon.

At about 5:20 p.m., the police’s automated license plate reader detected that a red Pontiac Vibe — reported stolen from Calvert County — entered through the North Campus gate, University Police spokeswoman Sgt. Rosanne Hoaas said.

Once police received confirmation a stolen vehicle had entered the campus, officers arrived, caught up with the car and pulled it over in the parking lot off Stadium Drive.

Freshman Emma Harring said she was walking back from class on the sidewalk near the baseball field when she noticed a group of students with their phones out, observing the incident from behind a fence.

Harring said she noticed several police cars with lights on and three to four officers with guns drawn pointing in one direction, when she approached the scene.

“I saw a red car and that seemed to be their focus,” the freshman mathematics major said. “[The individuals] appeared like they were cooperating. They were definitely doing everything they were told and moving in the way the police officers instructed them to.”

The vehicle had five occupants, including three women and two children. The women were instructed to exit and back away from the vehicle, and Hoaas said police had guns drawn due to the nature of the incident.

“With a stolen motor vehicle, there is a high risk involved with that. You don’t know how that vehicle was stolen,” she said. “We use that not for just the safety of our officers but for the safety of the area because we don’t know if we may come upon a vehicle with a weapon on them.”

Harring said she saw one woman off to the side in handcuffs, one inside a police car and another woman inside the vehicle.

The woman in the police car was determined to be the suspect who allegedly took the vehicle from its owner, even though she was not driving it when police stopped the car.  

The suspect was charged in connection with motor vehicle theft, and the two other women and children were released at the scene.