Teen charged with crashing stolen front-end loader into car dealership
Charges against a teenager say he stole a front-end loader from a processing plant in the middle of the night, then drove it on the railroad tracks and through the street, before plowing into the front of a car dealership at the request of a couple wannabe car thieves.
The 16-year-old was charged with two felonies – motor vehicle theft and criminal property damage – in connection with the March incident.
The trip, in a car and on roads, is about 20 miles.
(Note: It is BringMeTheNews' policy not to name juveniles charged as minors.)
According to the juvenile petition, the teen took the front loader tractor from Strategic Materials between about midnight and 5 a.m. on March 14, after crawling under a security gate.
The charges continue:
The teenager climbed in to the loader, didn't need keys to start it, and drove over a security fence to get out, he told investigators.
From there he traveled along railroad tracks, before taking a trail to a paved street, where he stuck to the side of the road and drove slowly with his hazards on.
In Hopkins, he came across two juveniles outside of Metro Motor Cars – one asked the teen to break into the building so they could steal a car.
The teen then drove into the front of the car dealership, allowing the two juveniles to take keys and a car.
The teen then didn't know what to do, so waited in the dealership.
When Hopkins police arrived just before 5 a.m. on an alarm call, they saw a white male in the building and ordered him out – but he wouldn't respond. They went in with guns drawn and found the teenager with cuts to his abdomen – he said a canine bit him.
The damage to Strategic Materials only was estimated at nearly $5,000.
