A man out on bail after a December auto-theft charge was arrested again yesterday — this time in a stolen car that he allegedly crashed outside a Kane'ohe shopping center while trying to flee from police.

Nathan Charles Branco, 19, whom police describe as a leader in GTAG, or Grand Theft Auto Gang, which plays out scenarios from the popular video game, was booked on suspicion of three counts of auto theft, third-degree promotion of dangerous drugs and driving without a license after his 11:35 a.m. arrest at Windward City Shopping Center.

Police said Branco picked up two 16-year-old girls from Castle High School in an Acura reported stolen in January and pulled into a gas station. He apparently was unable to turn off the engine because of damage to the ignition, and tried to drive off as police closed in.

According to police, he tried to jump a curb between the gas station and a McDonald's restaurant but a chunk of concrete became wedged under the front end of the car, lifting the tires off the ground. Branco tried to free the car by reversing and going forward and might have shot into a crowd of pedestrians or drive-through traffic had he been successful, police said.

Yesterday's arrest involved the Windward, Kalihi and Pearl City crime reduction units.

Branco has been in trouble with police since he was released by a judge last November on five years' probation for four auto-theft convictions.

Branco was charged in mid-December for auto theft but was free on $30,000 bail when arrested yesterday.

In the December incident, Branco allegedly was driving a stolen 1996 Honda when spotted by police on Moanalua Road and Ka'ahumanu Street in Waiau.

The stolen Honda was involved in a collision with another vehicle before Branco abandoned it and jumped in a drainage canal before police arrested him nearly three hours later in a swampy area of McGrew Point in Halawa.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.