“Wonderful, that’s the greatest thing I’ve ever heard,” said an Ohio police dispatcher with a laugh. “We will get somebody out to you.”
The dispatcher was amused by the predicament of a man reported breaking into a vehicle at Akron’s Arlington Auto Wrecking.
A quick-thinking yard worker trapped the man by using a forklift to lift the car 20 feet into the air, Cleveland’s WOIO-TV reported.
Police bodycam footage aired by Fox News showed the car held aloft until lowered for an arrest of 26-year-old Alexander Funk. He was charged with criminal trespassing and possessing of criminal tools.
It was not only the police dispatcher laughing at the way their suspect was captured. Police were all smiles as they recounted the incident.
“He broke into a car at the junkyard,” one officer told laughing colleagues. “And before he could get out — he’s done it before — they got like a forklift, and they had him, I’m not kidding, like 20 feet off the ground, so when we got there he went right into custody.”
It’s not the first time Arlington Auto Wrecking has had this kind of problem and its employees told police they’re tired of thieves breaking into their facilities, WOIO reported.
So when they found a man on the property one afternoon in October, they were determined not to let him escape.
“We’re having a lot of trouble here with people stealing stuff and everything,” a wrecking yard employee said.
“And we got a guy that’s passed out or crashed in one of our vehicles in our yard and I got the vehicle picked up with the loader and he’s probably 20 feet in the air now and I refuse to drop this thing to let him out and run,” according to the employee.
“I mean we’ve just had so much problems here with theft and catalytic converters and just fires and everything.”
Funk has had previous incidents with the law. There was a warrant out for him for disorderly conduct and he’s been convicted of drug abuse, criminal trespassing and entering a condemned building.
Funk’s forklift capture apparently was his third incident with Arlington Auto Wrecking, but it was the first time he had been caught.
When arrested, Funk had a backpack with a saw, saw blades and other hand tools, police said.
Perhaps Mr. Funk has learned a lesson — crime doesn’t pay.
And try something at Arlington Auto Wrecking in Akron and there may be some rude surprises along the way.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
