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An employee at the A&P supermarket used his cellphone to snap a shot of the getaway car and send it to police, along with the license plate and direction of travel.
Police found the vehicle a half-mile away, stuck in a snowpile, after it skidded off the road at the intersection of Saddle River Road and Pehle Avenue.
Both Philip Gannaway (above, right), 31, of Franklin Lakes and 45-year-old Roy Ottino ( left) of Paterson were feverishly trying to push it out, they said.
Gannaway, the driver, was released last week on $15,000 bail after spending three months in the Bergen County Jail.
The passenger, Roy Ottino, remained held there on that amount.
Both have prior arrests involving drug possession, burglary and theft, records show.
The incident began around 8:30 p.m. Feb. 19 when the employee followed the pair, who left without paying for a shopping cart full of items — including steaks, produce, baby diapers, 4-packs of Red Bull and miscellaneous toiletries, Saddle Brook Police Chief Robert Kugler said.
Following them into the parking lot, the worker ordered them to stop. But they abandoned the cart, got into a 1999 Volkswagen Jetta and began driving off.
Seeing what was happening, the good Samaritan stood in the way of the car, which nearly ran him over, Kugler said.
He held onto the windshield wipers, which snapped off as he fell to the pavement.
The 49-year-old good Samaritan hurt his thighs, left shoulder, elbow and lower back but denied immediate medical treatment, the chief said.
MUGSHOTS: Courtesy SADDLE BROOK PD
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