RCMP are investigating, and a Spruce Grove business is turning to social media for help, following a weekend break-in and theft.
On Saturday, Dwight Waldner went to investigate an alarm going off at the business he co-owns, XCaliber Crane and Rigging – his business partner had called him and asked him to investigate.
“I went to open the gate, that’s when the guy, he jumped out of the truck, and it was still rolling so I kind of knew something was wrong,” Waldner said.
Waldner was watching as the man used a pickup truck to push the rolling service truck into the gate, before driving the pickup truck through the gate and taking off.
“Then [he] basically pinned her at us, he smashed the gate,” Waldner said. “I got out of the way and called 911 and then ran to the car.”
Waldner followed the truck south, out of Spruce Grove where it turned east – his business partner was coming out of the Costco in west Edmonton and caught up with the truck as it entered Edmonton, but the driver took off on Anthony Henday Drive.
Before the individual drove off, security cameras at the business recorded him walking around the property.
“He jumped the fence, and then he was walking around a bit before he broke into our shop,” Waldner said. “When he broke in there he got the mechanic’s keys and he realized he couldn’t get out with the key, so he went back in to get the keys for the other truck.”
In all, the entire incident only took a few minutes – Waldner said he only just managed to get out of the way before the truck smashed through the gate.
“I actually didn’t think he was going to go through the gate for some reason, I went to the one side and realized that’s the way the gate was going to fly open so I ran to the other side and just tried getting out of the way,” Waldner said.
Meanwhile, Waldner’s wife had moved their family car – with their kids inside – out of the way.
“There’s a good chance he would’ve ran right into her and we had four kids in the car right, so pretty scary for sure,” Waldner said.
RCMP were called in, but the company also posted surveillance video of the incident on Facebook in the hopes someone will spot the truck, or recognize the suspect and call police.
With files from Susan Amerongen
Watch the video here:
