In an extraordinary scene straight out of a wild action movie, a man led Gwinnett County police on a slow-speed chase in a stolen frontloader, resulting in an unconventional takedown involving another heavy machinery. According to FOX 5 Atlanta, the ex-employee with a grudge took police and onlookers on a jaw-dropping five-mile ride that came to a dramatic end when a second frontloader was used to flip the first, effectively putting a stop to the bizarre pursuit.
The mayhem began on Saturday when officers responded to a call at a Waste Management facility. The assailant, identified as 38-year-old Eddie Sanchez, reportedly an disgruntled former worker, hijacked the 75,000-pound frontloader and took off down public roads. According to Channel 2's WSB-TV, officers initially attempted to stop Sanchez, but were forced to track him as he led them on the chase that lasted for miles and disrupted traffic before one creative cop orchestrated the intervention.
"The employees there stated that an ex-employee who had been fired back in September was on the premises and was driving one of the pieces of equipment around the property," said Cpl. Ryan Winderweedle in a statement obtained by FOX 5 Atlanta. The scene escalated as the suspect floored the machine, leaving the facility and forcing officers in a scramble to keep the giant equipment from causing havoc on the roads.
Police, alongside state troopers, worked to clear the path for Sanchez while another Gwinnett County officer devised a plan. In an ingenuity moment caught on camera, the officer instructed a Waste Management employee to use another frontloader to intercept the runaway machine. "They can get up to probably about 30 [mph]," the employee had told the officer moments before they carried out the plan, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
The video footage captured the tense moment when the second frontloader cruised up the road, ultimately flipping the hijacked one, a maneuver that Winderweedle said was intended to "use the weight of that equipment to try to stop this individual.” Local resident Christopher Idrogo, who witnessed the spectacle, expressed his disbelief to WSB-TV, saying, "You don’t expect to see a giant bulldozer flipped on its side." Eddie Sanchez was subsequently arrested and is currently in jail. His specific charges in the wake of the incident remain unclear.
