The booking photo of 50-year-old Douglas Hadaway hints at the realization there had to be a better way.
Police say the Baltimore man entered the Home Depot on Mountain Road in Pasadena and shoplifted a power saw and cordless drill.
A bent metal pole in front of the store is evidence of Hadaway's desperate attempt to make his getaway as employees pursued him once we left without paying for them.
"Shoplifting would be a misdemeanor. The value of the property was under $1,000. That's a misdemeanor crime,” said Marc Limansky of the Anne Arundel County Police Department. “He was pursued by the loss prevention folks at the store, gets into his car, crashes so now he's complicated matters severely for himself."
With his truck disabled from the crash, police say Hadaway pulled a motorist from a truck pulling up behind him, carjacked the vehicle and sped away.
It was a bold and brazen act, yet not the smartest of moves since the suspect left a key piece of evidence behind at the scene.
"So our officers look in the vehicle that he crashed... finds his wallet in there with his ID... goes to the area of his home... finds him driving down the road," said Limansky.
As if all of this isn't bad enough, Hadaway wasn't finished yet.
When officers approached the stolen vehicle, Hadaway made a break for it and ended up assaulting them before they finally took him into custody.
So Hadaway ended up losing his truck, his wallet and his freedom---all in a scheme to make off with a couple of power tools.
"He's been charged with a litany of offenses from carjacking, armed robbery, theft, assault and so forth so he'll be facing some time for this one," said Limansky.
Police say the victim of that carjacking, a 53-year old man from Glen Burnie, only suffered minor injuries during the incident.
