Bizarre moment cops get into 35-minute, low-speed chase with driver in a FORKLIFT in Sacramento

This is the bizarre moment Sacramento police officers engage in a 35-minute, slow-speed chase with a driver in a forklift.

Police said they spotted the forklift on the road from Sunday evening into Monday morning and when the driver refused to stop, it led to one of the slowest police car chases of all time.

Footage shows the yellow forklift driving through residential streets in the River Park neighborhood at night under the glow of flashing police lights in ridiculous scenes.

Witnesses said they were awakened by the sound of sirens as California police followed the vehicle.

“I was already awake, but it sounded like every officer in Sacramento was in the area,” said resident James Nunnely, who was caring for his grandmother at the time.

Footage shows the yellow forklift driving through residential streets in the city’s River Park neighborhood at night in ridiculous scenes

Officers follow the forklift during a nighttime chase. Witnesses said they were awakened by the sound of sirens as California police followed the vehicle

Nunnely, who described it as the slowest chase he had ever witnessed, said police responded with force. ‘It was nearby. It was like all you heard were sirens,” he said. “It was everywhere.”

“We looked out our window and we could see what appeared to be a forklift that was going pretty slowly, just kind of casually driving down our street here, Teichert, and then seven police cars were following behind,” resident Chelsea Leber told KCRA. .

Police say the forklift is believed to have been stolen, but investigators have not been able to identify its owner.

“Just before midnight, officers observed a forklift traveling along the roadway near the 2700 block of Fair Oaks Boulevard,” a Sacramento Police spokesperson said.

‘Officers attempted to carry out an enforcement stop but the forklift driver refused to stop and a pursuit ensued.

‘The forklift continued onto the cycle path and took down a fence at Glenn Hall Park, dragging it along the path before being disabled. The driver was taken into custody without incident on the cycle path at the Howe River access.”

A police car follows the forklift at a snail’s pace during the low-speed chase late Sunday and early Monday

Suspect Wayne Mathern, 47, faces charges of eluding, resisting arrest and vandalism.

Mathern was previously charged this month with assault on a peace officer and providing false information.

According to local media, he did not appear in court on October 16 on these charges.

In August, potential thieves in California tried to steal an ATM with a forklift in Sacramento County.

The video shows the suspect fiddling with the equipment to push and ram the ATM.

One suspect eventually managed to overturn the machine, while a second suspect drove a pickup truck as a getaway car.

But the robbery did not go to plan and the ATM later fell off the vehicle and was left in the middle of a busy road.