Stolen Dump Truck Leads Cops on 52-Mile Chase

Sometimes those crazy kids are prone to joy-riding. And then others, they're prone to leading cops on a 52-mile not-very-high-speed pursuit in a stolen dump truck—some of it in reverse—causing multiple accidents and a hefty bit of property damage along the way. Ohio cops have charged an unnamed 17-year-old with leading them on just such a merry chase over the weekend. The youth—who faces charges of assault with a weapon (the truck, notes the Akron Beacon Journal), evading a cop, driving with a suspended license, and receiving stolen property—could, perhaps unsurprisingly, be tried as an adult.

Two other teens fled the dump truck during crashes early on. Meanwhile, police video shows objects ranging from bricks to a tarp and fire extinguisher being hurled from the driver's window as the truck fled, eventually totaling one police cruiser and severely damaging another. ''It's hard to understand what the kid's motivation was,'' says the local police chief. ''It's very strange that he acted so aggressively and put us and civilians at risk.'' (More juvenile crime stories.)