It's not often the long arm of the law treats a burglary suspect to a coffee.

Especially after he was accused of ramming a police patrol car.

But an hour later, shivering and surrendering to Port Hope officers who brought in a dog to track him early yesterday, the suspect was so polite.

And apologetic. And cold.

"You guys are damn good, I'll give you that," the chilled and subdued prisoner said after being placed in the back of the cruiser, observed by a Sun Media reporter.

"I apologize, sir," he told officers as they prepared to have him checked by a doctor before booking him for breaking into Gilmer's Home Hardware just before midnight Thursday.

The man insisted his Chevy Blazer's gearshift was in "drive," and inadvertently drove into Const. Mike Gerhardt's cruiser behind the Toronto Rd. shop.

"I swear that is not something I do," the prisoner told police. "Honestly, I didn't mean to ram him."

Sgt. Darren Strongman had a different recollection.

"The vehicle ran straight into the cruiser in an attempt to get away," he said.

With both vehicles nose to nose, Gerhardt accelerated, spinning his tires in a bid to stop the driver.

Strongman said after the constable pushed the Blazer backwards and up a snowbank, then through a fence, the driver bailed out and ran behind a Tim Hortons coffee shop and into a field.

Port Hope officers surrounded the area, called in the Cobourg Police, plus the Northumberland OPP Emergency Response Team, who arrived an hour later with a police dog. Faced by the jaws of the law, a suspect was quickly sniffed out lying on the snow about 150 metres from the hardware store.

"The dog hit on the gentleman hiding behind a shed," Strongman said.

Before taking him to Cobourg to be checked for injuries from the collision and hypothermia, Strongman sprung for a "double-double" at the nearby Tim's -- but no doughnuts.

"I bought him the coffee because he was freezing cold and thought it would warm him up until he got to hospital," he said.

William McGraw, 29, of Campbellcroft, faces numerous charges related to the break and enter, and breach of probation.