Don’t drink and drive…especially your wheel loader!

 

I’m not sure what’s more disconcerting about this story, that this guy has access to a wheel loader in the first place or that he’s likely operated it more than a few times while intoxicated.

According to a report from CBS Minnesota, a man was arrested near Minneapolis after police pulled him over while driving a wheel loader down the middle of the street.

The stop occurred around 1 a.m. and when the officers with the Chisago County Sheriff’s Office asked the operator just what he thought he was doing, the man replied that he thought “it was snowing out.” The deputies quickly determined the man was drunk and arrested him.

It doesn’t look like the deputies pressed him on it and the CBS report doesn’t clarify, but apparently this guy thought it was time to clear the roads of some snow. He does have access to the loader, after all. To the guy’s credit, the area did get some snow, just not until later that day. Hopefully, if this is his job, he’s been relieved of that duty entirely.

Thankfully, the guy didn’t manage to do any damage. And the deputies in Chisago County had a bit of a laugh over the situation, posting the photo you see above to their Facebook page with the caption, “I don’t always drive my front end loader to Stacy, but when I do, I am probably drunk.”

This article was written by Wayne Grayson, Online Managing Editor of Equipment World.