Utah man arrested Authorities arrested him on Saturday he stole an excavator from a construction site , says he drove it 1 mile (1.6 km) to a grocery store in Salt Lake City, where he used a machine to tear up a parking lot.
Police launched an investigation around 12:00 pm. According to the Salt Lake Police Department, after receiving a call that a man was "randomly" digging through grass and sidewalks outside Smith's grocery store at 828 South 900 West. }
Videos and photos shared by the department show a freshly dug muddy ditch in the store's parking lot.
Police said the suspect caused significant damage after hitting a water pipe and tore a recently installed fiber optic utility line. Utility crew determined that there was no gas leak and were assessing the extent of the damage.
Police say the suspect jumped into a working excavator at the 900 South 300 West site. Construction workers tracked the suspect to a grocery store, where he began destroying it. It is unclear why the man allegedly stole the heavy equipment.
A group of witnesses stopped the suspect from leaving the scene until police arrived.
Suspect was taken into custody without incident. He was scheduled to face charges of felony theft and felony criminal mischief at Salt Lake County Metro Jail, according to authorities. I was laid down.
According to police, no injuries were reported and no crashes occurred while the excavator was operating illegally.
