B U F F A L O N E W S buffalonews.com
A man was charged Thursday evening with stealing a Bobcat construction machine that Erie County deputies said he had hot-wired and driven nearly half a mile before crashing into a telephone pole at Baseline and Bedell roads on Grand Island.
Deputies Mike Haug and Dan Milbrandt said they took Jared A. Sander, 31, of Carol Lane on Grand Island into custody after a brief struggle.
The deputies said they were investigating a report that someone was trying to steal the equipment from the construction site of a Walgreens drugstore when they found Sander driving it north in the southbound lane.
Sander ran the machine off the road and into the utility pole, then tried to flee, deputies said.
He was charged with grand larceny, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration and criminal mischief, a charge stemming from the damage he is accused of causing when hot-wiring the machine.
He also faces a charge of aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.