If you’re gonna steal a car, here’s a hot tip: check the gas gauge first. One California thief skipped that step—and barely made it a few miles before his grand getaway rolled to a pitiful stop.

The Fairfield, California Police Department received a call about a stolen car. Worse yet, it was up on the highway, driving west toward the San Francisco Bay Area. Luckily, multiple officers were nearby, cleaning up an encampment.

An anti-climactic police chase

The cruisers reportedly caught up with the car on I-80 near Red Top Road. The driver didn’t pull over when signaled. But they also didn’t speed up. The result was a “slow chase” for the next seven miles. Luckily, fate intervened.

The police report is comically succinct. The driver had to stop on Fairgrounds Drive because they were out of gas. But when a car runs bone dry, it often bucks and lurches for a while. The fact that the driver of the stolen car bothered to get off the highway means they were milking it for all it was worth.

The suspect was booked into county jail for theft and evasion.

Of course, this driver isn’t the only one to suffer an embarrassing mechanical mishap during a police chase. In longer pursuits, suspects often run out of gas. One Tennessee driver in their own car recently fled a traffic stop, only to be apprehended after attempting to swing into a gas station—mid-chase—to air up their tires.