A 23-year-old man faces several charges after he stole a Mack truck from a local salvage yard Sunday and led police on a low-speed chase that ended with him crashing into a tree.
William Bennett Jr. is charged with felony counts of auto theft and resisting law enforcement, as well as misdemeanors for operating a vehicle while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident.
Police responded at about 9:15 p.m. to the 1600 block of West Gray Street, where a caller reported that a man was sitting in a truck and having trouble starting it, as if he didn’t know how to drive the truck, Bloomington Police Department Lt. John Kovach said. The caller said the truck might be stolen from nearby JB’s Salvage, though they did not explain why they believed that.
A few minutes later, employees of JB’s Salvage called police to report a stolen 2001 Mack truck. One employee told police he’d seen the truck leaving and first thought another employee was driving it, because nobody else had permission to drive it. Then he saw the truck ram through a gate.
Police found the truck weaving through traffic at a slow speed near the intersection of West Fountain Drive and State Road 37. Officers followed the truck and tried to make a traffic stop on Nuckles Road, but the driver, later identified as Bennett, continued driving slowly.
Bennett then drove the truck into some bushes, where it was stuck momentarily. He ignored the orders of officers, got the truck out of the bushes and continued driving, still slowly, on West Fountain Drive.
On West 11th Street, officers tried to use tire deflation devices, but Bennett avoided them, drove through a stop sign and continued onward. Eventually, on North Monroe Street, Bennett crossed a sidewalk and ran the truck into a tree between two buildings.
Officers used less-lethal beanbag weapons to subdue Bennett, who appeared intoxicated. He was arrested and taken first to Bloomington Hospital and then to Monroe County Correctional Center.
