A 66-year-old man allegedly borrowed a massive piece of construction equipment without asking and took it for the world’s slowest joyride Friday night.
What’s Happening: Danny Ross Robinson of Demorest now faces charges of driving under the influence and theft by taking a motor vehicle after Habersham County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested him on Old Athens Highway just before 8 p.m. Friday.
- The stolen vehicle, A 30-ton Komatsu excavator that maxes out at a blistering 3.4 miles per hour.
What’s Important: The excavator damaged one mailbox during its half-mile trek but avoided hitting any structures, vehicles, or the utility wires it stopped just inches below in a private driveway.
Between the Lines: Emergency dispatchers started getting calls about a rogue excavator rumbling down Old Athens Highway around 7:45 p.m. When deputies arrived, they found the 11-foot-wide tracked machine parked in someone’s driveway with its boom dangerously close to power lines overhead.
The Big Picture: Construction equipment theft is common in Georgia, but most thieves load machines onto trailers and disappear. Taking a hydraulic excavator for a casual cruise down a public road at walking speed is a different breed of bold.
The Sources: Habersham County Sheriff’s Office
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
