PLEASANTON (CBS13) – A Pleasanton family vacationing in west Lake Tahoe watched in amazement as a bear got into their Toyota Prius, took it for a ride down the driveway and tore it to pieces recently.

Brian McCarthy, Cece McCarthy and their son Dylan woke up in their Lake Tahoe cabin in the middle of the night to some strange growling, and what turned out to be the sounds of the bear in their car.

They peered out the window only to see a black bear that somehow managed to climb completely inside the car and couldn’t get out. The family watched as the confused bear shredded their beloved Prius to bits in an attempt to break free.

“It’s amazing how strong that bear was,” said Cece.

Somehow in its struggle, the bear even managed to take the car on a wild, albeit short, ride.

“In the chaos of him thrashing around in the car, he pulled back the gear shift, which is a pretty hard task to do,” said Dylan.

“All of the sudden we look out the window again and the car is gone, the bear is down the driveway – we have this steep driveway coming out of our cabin – he’s down the driveway across the street,” said Cece.

Incredibly, the bear ended up knocking the car in neutral, causing it to roll down the McCarthys’ driveway, over several boulders, only stopping when it slammed into a neighbor’s front porch.

“These boulders are huge and to have him flying over these boulders, it was just like, whoa,” said Cece.

The astonished family watched for nearly 30 minutes as the bear struggled to get out.

By the time sheriff’s deputies arrived, the bear was gone. A deputy filed the incident as a bear burglary.

Burglary – by a bear. May this Prius rest in pieces.

“He did steal our car,” said Dylan. “He just left it across the street. It wasn’t hard to find.”

The McCarthys have already looked into purchasing a new Prius, but they don’t have any plans to return to Lake Tahoe any time soon.