12-year-old takes forklift on an hourlong police chase, smashes 10 parked cars

A joyride lasting over an hour in a stolen construction vehicle ended with a 12-year-old boy in custody over the weekend. It was all caught on camera.

The series of events started at approximately 6:45 p.m. Saturday at a middle school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. That’s when the boy opened the door to an unlocked Construction Genie GTH-636 Telehandler, grabbed the key hidden inside the cab and drove off. The telehandler is equipped with a forklift and weighs up to 35,000 pounds. 

Police say minutes later they spotted the machine southbound, headed toward central Ann Arbor. Several officers joined the pursuit. Dashcam from a police car shows the boy swerving on the road, taking out signs and hitting 10 parked vehicles.

The boy crossed over the Huron River as well as the M-14 highway that serves as the northern boundary of the city. Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office picked up the pursuit and chased the boy until he finally came to a stop in the area of M-14 and Gotfredson, about 14 miles from where he started, nearly to neighboring Plymouth Township, around 7:53 p.m.

“This was a very dangerous situation that could’ve easily ended with serious injuries,” Ann Arbor Police said in a Facebook post.

The boy was taken into custody. And thankfully, no one was hurt, including the boy.