Moment boy steals forklift from school and leads cops on low speed chase
A 12-year-old boy stole a forklift from a middle school and struck at least 10 parked vehicles as he took cops on a low speed chase in the dark of night.
Video recorded from a police car with sirens on pursuing the forklift shows it driving at a relatively low speed on residential streets, failing to stop at some intersections and at times traveling in the middle of the road.
At one point while turning the corner, the boy drives the forklift onto a curb and runs over a street sign on the sidewalk, before continuing to flee from cops.
Cops responded to Forsythe Middle School around 6.45pm on Saturday to a report of a juvenile trying to steal a construction vehicle, according to the Ann Arbor Police Department.
They found the stolen vehicle going southbound on Brooks Street near Pearl Street, without lights on.
‘Multiple officers initiated a pursuit of the vehicle at speeds of 15 to 20mph with emergency lights and sirens on,’ stated the police department on Monday.
‘During the pursuit, the driver of the stolen vehicle traveled through the Georgetown Boulevard neighborhood, striking approximately ten parked vehicles.’
Cops followed the forklift until it began moving northbound on Nixon Road across the Michigan 14 highway (M-14) bridge around 7.18pm. Then Washtenaw County sheriff’s deputies began following the forklift until the boy stopped driving around M-14 and Godfredson.
Deputies took the boy into custody and brought him to a juvenile detention center.
No one was injured during the chase.
The boy allegedly unlocked the Construction Genie GTH-636 Telehandler equipped with a forklift using a key that was hidden inside the cab, according to a preliminary investigation. That type of vehicle can weigh as much as 35,000 pounds.
‘This was a very dangerous situation that could’ve easily ended with serious injuries,’ stated the police department, which is conducting a criminal investigation.
The incident happened nearly a year after a 13-year-old girl led cops on a chase in a Nissan Pathfinder SUV with an 11-year-old boy, a gun and marijuana inside. However, it was a high-speed chase at more than 100mph.
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