While high-speed car chases are great in cop movies, not every real-life crime merits an extended hot pursuit of a perp. For police in Michigan, a $16 dine-and-dash was apparently worth the effort, at least for a short while.

The Detroit Free Press has the story of a man who allegedly walked out of a Buffalo Wild Wings without paying for his meal. The restaurant contacted the police, who spotted the man’s vehicle and pulled him over.

The police offered him the chance to go back and pay for his food, but the master criminal chose to say something rude and then speed off.

The officers attempted to pursue the man, but presumably realizing that a $16 dinner bill might not be worth reenacting scenes from the French Connection, they eventually let him go.

And since they already had the suspect’s name and address, all they had to do was show up at his house 20 minutes later to arrest him.

Speaking of William Friedkin films, here is the car chase from To Live and Die in L.A., which I personally think is a superior chase to the one in French Connection (and is decidedly NSFW, so bust out the headphones if you’re watching at work) —

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