An occurrence in St. Thomas yesterday morning made my day as a newscaster.
Around 4 am, two patrolling Elgin County OPP officers noticed a huge, new John Deere tractor traveling along the Highway 3 extension. Thinking it was odd to see farm equipment out in the dense fog before dawn and on a major road they attempted to pull the tractor over. But the driver took off and led those officers plus others from Elgin as well as London and St. Thomas police on an hour-long slow-speed chase.
The driver put the pedal to the metal and hit top speeds of 40 km/hr! Like the old slogan said, “Nothing runs like a Deere!” Police attempted several times to force him to stop. They boxed him in but he rammed a cruiser with the giant beast and got away. They laid a spike belt but it didn’t permeate the huge, thick tire walls. Finally, as the tractor was nearly stopped while its pilot changed gears, an officer fired a taser through a rear window that had broken out during the chase. Still the suspect emerged and tried to resist arrest, so a police dog was unleashed and took him down.
It may not surprise you to know that I asked the officer I interviewed to tell me the hero dog’s name! He didn’t know. Pity.
It turns out that the tractor was worth $94,000. and had been taken from a local dealer. Police say the suspect had tried to start a few of them before he got one to fire up and take off. That explains why he was on the road at 4 am; he probably began his little caper in the dead of night but it took him longer than he anticipated.
Police took the suspect to hospital because he was knocked around in the cab from driving so recklessly and, oh yeah, he had been tasered! But he’s fine and no one else was hurt. In all it was a lengthy, frustrating but ultimately successful capture. I asked the officer if the suspect might have been impaired. “That will certainly be part of our investigation”, he said.
Thanks for the entertainment, buddy. Enjoy your excursion through the legal system!