MANKATO (TEC News) -- Three underage drinkers landed in jail early Friday morning when they made the ill-advised decision to raise their beer cans to salute a passing Mankato patrol car.

A Mankato police commander says the officer was on patrol around 12:48 a.m. and spotted four men standing in a parking lot at Highland Park.

When he shined a spotlight on the quartet, two of them raised a beer can to acknowledge the officer. Given what police described as the men's "youthful appearance", the officer decided to investigate and that's when they allegedly fled into a wooded area.

A police report says the officer ventured into the wooded area three separate times and emerged each time with one man.

The three were identified by police as 20-year-old Spencer Logan Arrowsmith, 20-year-old Ryan Bradford Erstad, and 19-year-old Ryan Thomas Portner, all of Mankato.

The fourth man wasn't found.

All three were arrested and jailed on probable cause underage consumption and fleeing.