By Lisa Trigg
TERRE HAUTE — “The guy was an idiot,” Rod O’Kelly said of the person who crashed a truck into the Boot City retail store south of Terre Haute in a botched burglary attempt early Tuesday.
“I think it could go down as the world’s dumbest people.”
The engine was still running on the stolen Dodge 2500 pickup truck when police arrived at the scene shortly before 6 a.m. The truck, taken sometime overnight from Midwest RV just a mile up the road, was sitting inside the store just south of the main entrance. It had been backed at high speed through a window and door in the building’s front wall, crashing through merchandise and colliding with the rear wall of the building.
“It was a wreck,” O’Kelly said of that section of his store. “There were two-by-fours and shirts and sweatshirts everywhere.”
Clean-up was ongoing Tuesday morning, and a large tarp covered a hole left by the missing door and window. The business was open for normal customer hours.
Detective John Childs of the Vigo County Sheriff’s Department agrees with O’Kelly that the target of the break-in was likely the ATM sitting inside the area where the truck crashed.
However, the ATM machine was bolted to the floor, O’Kelly said, and it was not broken open by the impact.
A passerby on U.S. 41 called 911 dispatchers around 5:43 a.m. to report the strange activity at Boot City.
O’Kelly said he believes the alarms at the business also scared off the would-be thief.
While a lot of merchandise was damaged, O’Kelly said, the damage was not as bad as it could have been. He estimated the damage at several thousand dollars. An insurance claim is being made.
The floor where the truck came to rest showed marks where the tires had spun as the driver apparently tried to get the truck out of the building. O’Kelly said the truck hit a display of about four dozen large candles, and he figured that candle wax got on the truck tires, making it hard to get traction on the smooth floor.
O’Kelly first opened Boot City about 25 years ago at its location on U.S. 41. At first it was a feed store, but it soon grew to offer western gear and apparel. Since it first opened, O’Kelly said, the store has had two minor break-ins and one major break-in about 15 years ago. For that reason, the store has a good alarm system.
Detective Childs said a motive for the break-in was unknown, but the truck appeared to be headed for the ATM machine.
Childs said the management of Midwest RV was unaware that the truck had been taken until notified by police. A telephone recording for Midwest RV states the business will be closed during the holidays. The truck, which had damage to its back end, was towed from the scene to be processed by police for evidence.
The suspect apparently walked away from the scene to an awaiting vehicle. Childs said the suspect’s footprints were briefly tracked in the snow, but were then lost.
“Chances are, another vehicle was waiting [nearby] for him,” Childs said.
Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at (812) 238-STOP.
Lisa Trigg can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or lisa.trigg@tribstar.com.
