One night in Albuquerque, Deputy Sheriff Scott Baird came across two Home Depot trailers suspiciously abandoned by the roadside. Both appeared to have slid off the road and gotten stuck–and were separated by just 75 yards. But as Baird pondered what exactly was happening, he spotted something truly baffling.

A pickup truck came barreling down the road, towing a trailer. The driver then lost control and sideswiped Baird’s patrol car.

The culprit—identified only as “Edward” in the Albuquerque Journal—was evidently having a bit of trouble keeping his trailers on track. Turns out, he’d stolen not one, not two, but three Home Depot trailers in a single night, and abandoned two of them on the same curve in the same road when things got dicey.

Edward simply couldn’t master the art of towing on Griegos Road and figured, Third time’s the charm! While he gets an “F” for driving skill, he definitely gets an “A+” for sheer determination.

Deputy Baird was just about done being blindsided. He turned around and followed Edward, whose grand getaway topped out at a whopping 25 mph. Detective Bill Webb later summed it up, dryly observing, Edward had probably just discovered “that trailers at high speeds don’t stay on very well.”

More officers joined the world’s slowest trailer-chase, eventually bringing the ambitious thief to a halt. Edward walked away with three counts of motor vehicle theft, and maybe a few tips on towing. Here’s hoping he finds a different career—one that doesn’t involve trailers.