Mayhem: Man in stolen bucket truck leaves thousands without power (VIDEO)
Posted by: Jon Ben-Mayor on 08/28/2013 06:21 AM
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This incident would be more at home in our Florida Friday stories; a man on Long Island stole a transit authority bucket truck, or cherry picker, and proceeded to terrorize the town of Elmony. NY., damaging many vehicles and leaving thousands without power. Oddly police claim that alcohol was not a factor.
“He realizes the welding equipment will not fit in his personal truck, so he takes the truck to move the stolen equipment,” Lack said.
Grasman, a “light maintainer” at the facility and a 23-year employee of the agency, then drove the truck through the streets of Elmont with the boom raised, taking down trees and power lines around 4 a.m., police said. It is unclear if Grasman raised the bucket truck’s boom intentionally.
The truck took down trees, dozens of utility poles and eight traffic signals. Officials said it will take days to make repairs.
Long Island Power Authority officials said the truck took down distribution and transmission lines, leaving roughly 6,000 customers without power at one point.
It sounded like he was hitting cars. I thought he was hitting all the cars on my block,” one man told CBS 2′s Kathryn Brown. “I got a 2-year-old car so I ran outside and I saw wires down all over my car, tree branches all over the car, all over the neighborhood. Total chaos.”
“There was a series of explosions last night like something out of a ‘Frankenstein’ movie,” resident Michael Edan added. “Earlier the lights were flickering on and off and just as I came outside they went off for good and I started hearing this stuff blow up. It was eerie.”
“It just went ‘boom,’ and you just saw what looked like fireworks,” resident Sabrina Gardner said.
He faces a number of charges including criminal mischief, intentional damage to property and reckless damage to property, Brown reported. Police said alcohol was not a factor.
Grasman’s attorney declined to comment, pending his client’s arraignment.
“He realizes the welding equipment will not fit in his personal truck, so he takes the truck to move the stolen equipment,” Lack said.
Grasman, a “light maintainer” at the facility and a 23-year employee of the agency, then drove the truck through the streets of Elmont with the boom raised, taking down trees and power lines around 4 a.m., police said. It is unclear if Grasman raised the bucket truck’s boom intentionally.
The truck took down trees, dozens of utility poles and eight traffic signals. Officials said it will take days to make repairs.
Long Island Power Authority officials said the truck took down distribution and transmission lines, leaving roughly 6,000 customers without power at one point.
It sounded like he was hitting cars. I thought he was hitting all the cars on my block,” one man told CBS 2′s Kathryn Brown. “I got a 2-year-old car so I ran outside and I saw wires down all over my car, tree branches all over the car, all over the neighborhood. Total chaos.”
“There was a series of explosions last night like something out of a ‘Frankenstein’ movie,” resident Michael Edan added. “Earlier the lights were flickering on and off and just as I came outside they went off for good and I started hearing this stuff blow up. It was eerie.”
“It just went ‘boom,’ and you just saw what looked like fireworks,” resident Sabrina Gardner said.
He faces a number of charges including criminal mischief, intentional damage to property and reckless damage to property, Brown reported. Police said alcohol was not a factor.
Grasman’s attorney declined to comment, pending his client’s arraignment.
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