P
olice in North Charleston, SC., engaged in a not-so-hot pursuit as they chased a tractor excavator down a main highway for more than an hour at 3mph. Officers on a different call saw the large piece of construction equipment go across Hwy. 78 around 3:30 a.m. A few minutes later, they got a burglary call from a business that was heavily damaged, and saw the excavator slowly heading away. Several cars immediately joined in the very slow pursuit. The excavator was going so slow that the cruisers would have to briefly stop several times a minute so as not to overtake it. Police had their blue lights and sirens on and told the excavator driver over their loudspeakers that he was under arrest and needed to pull over. Other cruisers blocked traffic. The chase went on for an hour and 12 minutes before the excavator drove onto the Charleston County Fairgrounds property, where it got stuck. The driver tried to run, but was followed by a drone until a police dog and handler caught up to him. Police charged 53-year-old Johnny Mesa (inset) with failure to stop for police and two counts of malicious property damage. He remains in the Charleston County jail on a $22,000 bond.
olice in North Charleston, SC., engaged in a not-so-hot pursuit as they chased a tractor excavator down a main highway for more than an hour at 3mph. Officers on a different call saw the large piece of construction equipment go across Hwy. 78 around 3:30 a.m. A few minutes later, they got a burglary call from a business that was heavily damaged, and saw the excavator slowly heading away. Several cars immediately joined in the very slow pursuit. The excavator was going so slow that the cruisers would have to briefly stop several times a minute so as not to overtake it. Police had their blue lights and sirens on and told the excavator driver over their loudspeakers that he was under arrest and needed to pull over. Other cruisers blocked traffic. The chase went on for an hour and 12 minutes before the excavator drove onto the Charleston County Fairgrounds property, where it got stuck. The driver tried to run, but was followed by a drone until a police dog and handler caught up to him. Police charged 53-year-old Johnny Mesa (inset) with failure to stop for police and two counts of malicious property damage. He remains in the Charleston County jail on a $22,000 bond.
