In the aftermath of a doughnut-eating contest, it seems like the pastry police were on the case.

Remember that old cliche about cops sitting around during their shift eating doughnuts?

Perhaps a North Carolina man tried to beat them at what he perceived was their own game. He did, but only temporarily — the doughnut-eating champion was wanted for two felony break-ins and wound up behind bars.

Ironically, the suspect entered the doughnut-eating contest at a police-sponsored community event called the Night Out Against Crime in Elizabeth City, N.C.

The suspect, identified in multiple media accounts as Bradley Hardison, polished off eight glazed donuts in two minutes in the competition, thereby defeating a group of local cops and firefighters in the process.

An area newspaper chronicled the man’s doughnut-eating win at the anti-crime event, an article which caught the eye of Lt. Max Robeson of the Camden County Sheriff’s Department, which had been searching for the suspect for seven months. Said Robeson: “When I came in that morning and read that article I was pissed because it’s like throwing it in our face.”

Deputies arrested Hardison, 24, at his mother’s house shortly thereafter and brought him in for questioning.

Added Robeson: “I did congratulate him. Good for him. He can eat a lot of doughnuts. Good for him.”

Police claim that the suspect broke into a grocery store in November and a storage building in May. Pending charges include felony breaking and entering and misdemeanor injury to real property. The suspect also faces charges in a neighboring county in connection with the alleged theft of $5,000.

As the Daily Mail summarized this sticky situation, “There’s no way to sugar coat this story! A North Carolina man who won first prize in an eating competition against some police officers found himself with a glazed look of his own when they arrested him a day after his victorious binge.”

[image credit: femme run]