A Minnesota man had the bright idea to steal a car an owner had left running to warm up. But the same cold weather the owner had been dodging came back to bite the thief, who careened into a snowbank.

The suspect is Kane Charles Bonga. He saw a 2008 Subaru Outback idling outside the MnDOT office at the corner of Mesaba Avenue and Central Entrance in Duluth. Maybe he thought finders, keepers. But the joke’s on the thief, because the Subaru belonged to a government employee. They called police faster than you can say “North Star State.”

This DOT employee even hopped in a co-worker’s car to keep the Outback in sight. The storm must have been coming down hard, because they were able to follow Bonga. A police officer took over near Mountain Shadow Drive and Matterhorn Drive in Hermantown, Minnesota. These road names are enough to give you frostbite.

How the chase wrapped up

At the intersection, Bonga slid off the road and got the Subaru completely stuck in a snowbank. And with Subaru’s AWD, that’s no easy feat.

Currently, the suspect is charged with fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle, theft–take/drive motor vehicle–no owner consent, receiving stolen property, and driving after revocation. Yup, his license had already been permanently terminated. I wonder what for. Perhaps crashing on snowy roads.