THE GREAT MINNESOTA CEMENT TRUCK CHASE

An 11-year-old boy stole a cement truck and led police on an hour-long chase at speeds up to 70 mph

Sunday afternoon, a cement truck was sitting around in Dodge County, Minnesota waiting to be stolen. It didn’t have to wait too long before an 11-year-old boy jumped in the driver seat and took off with the concrete-mixer.

When the cops spotted the truck speeding, they tried to pull it over. That led to an hour-long chase at speeds of up to 71 mph. The chase involved cop cars from the Dodge County SO, Minnesota State Police, Kasson PD and Dodge Center PD. A Minnesota State Police helicopter was also involved for much of the chase. Two police vehicles were damaged by the truck.

The chase went up and down Dodge County Roads. Deputies laid down stop-strips in an attempt to end the chase. But the driver kept going on deflated tires. The truck then lost a tire, driving the final several miles on the rim and thereby heavily damaging the street surfaces.

The Great Minnesota Cement Truck Chase finally ended when the 11-year-old driver turned into a Dodge Center cul-de-sac where he surrendered to the police without any shots having been fired. He was taken to Rochester where he was locked up in the County Juvenile Detention Center. Formal charges were expected to be filed on Monday.

It is good to know that a dangerous criminal was taken off the streets without anyone getting hurt.

And I suspect that by the time the chase ended, the concrete inside the truck was thoroughly mixed.