05.20.2008
|
 | Trucker Forum STAFF | | Member Since: Jan 2006 Location: USA
Trucker? Trucking Industry
Posts: 21,068
Thanks: 1,409
Thanked: 1,179 Times
| |
| Trucker wrestles with thief in moving semi
Angry over diesel theft, trucker wrestles with thief in moving semi 5/20/08 Columbus Dispatch, OH Quote:
At $4.39 a gallon, trucker Mike Ebert wasn't going to watch more than 140 gallons of his diesel disappear down the road without a tussle.
So, with a renegade trucker pulling away with a tank of diesel just siphoned from Ebert's semi, the Vinton County man jumped into the cab with the thief.
The men wrestled over the steering wheel as the truck slowly rolled down Rt. 50, with Ebert talking over his cell phone to a 911 dispatcher.
With deputies closing in outside McArthur, Ebert managed to grab the wheel and guide the truck to an uneventful stop in a ditch.
Deputies arrested Carl T. Wilson, 49, of Chillicothe, and charged him with the felony theft of more than $600 in diesel fuel from Ebert's truck.
The 3 a.m. Sunday incident was a first for Sheriff Dave Hickey.
“I'm in my 31st year here and I don't recall anything like this ever happening,” Hickey said.
He does not recommend jumping into the vehicles of fleeing theft suspects. “That could have been very dangerous,” he said.
Still, the 37-year-old Ebert got his man.
Ebert reported he was in the sleeper cab of his truck, parked at the R&C Quickstop convenience store in McArthur, when another semi pulled alongside.
A few minutes later, Ebert felt some jostling. He looked out the window and saw a hose snaking between the diesel tank of his truck and the tank of the neighboring truck.
The trucker called 911 on his cell phone, jumped out and confronted the other trucker, shouting the sheriff was on the way. The other trucker pulled out the hose, got back in his truck and started to head out.
Ebert jumped into the cab as the departing trucker shouted that he had a gun and attempted to push his hitchhiker out of the truck.
From there, the wrestling match for control of truck was on until deputies arrived less than two minutes later. No gun was found and there were no injuries, Hickey said.
Ebert could not be reached for comment. Wilson, an independent trucker, was released from jail on a $5,000 bond. McArthur is about 55 miles southeast of Columbus.
http://dispatch.com/live/content/loc...l.html?sid=101 | |
Similar Threads 
Linear Mode
