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Man steals construction excavator and drove it into a Florida Walmart, police say
FOX 35 Orlando ^ | September 12, 2023 | FOX 35 News Staff

Posted on 09/17/2023 6:13:26 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - A man in Florida is accused of stealing a large construction excavator and taking it for a drive, knocking down power poles before plowing through the front of a Walmart store in Gainesville, police said.

Police said 47-year-old Jesse Charles Smith hot wired the excavator and stole it from a nearby storage area. He damaged other storage units, a Starbucks, and the Walmart on SW 42nd Street during the joyride, police said.

Police estimated the total damage to Walmart near $2 million.

Police said Smith was also armed with a machete.

It's not known why Smith stole the excavator, police said. However, Smith reportedly admitted to detectives that he was on drugs.

(Excerpt) Read more at fox35orlando.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Conspiracy; Health/Medicine; Local News
KEYWORDS: druggie; drunkenspree; florida; floridaman; gainesville; jessecharlessmith; walmart
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1 posted on 09/17/2023 6:13:26 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Florida man strikes again!


2 posted on 09/17/2023 6:18:30 PM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Killdozer at home:


3 posted on 09/17/2023 6:20:30 PM PDT by Antihero101607
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

In nature the dangerous things have markings to identify them as such...


4 posted on 09/17/2023 6:21:20 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Police estimated the total damage to Walmart near $2 million.

Something tells me that this guy doesn't have that kind of cash.

5 posted on 09/17/2023 6:24:43 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (They say "Our Democracy" but they mean Cosa Nostra.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Bring back the 60’s when all the drugs were so wonderful and only the terminally socially repressed didn’t do them.


6 posted on 09/17/2023 6:25:54 PM PDT by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and harder to find.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Years ago we brought our cub scouts to a friends construction site. My friend, the site supervisor told me to take the boys in the excavator and let them move the bucket around.

I had run Bobcats before but never real heavy equipment

“Uh Brad. You want to show me how to run it first?”

I had more fun the the six year olds did.


7 posted on 09/17/2023 6:30:11 PM PDT by cyclotic (It's a great time to live in America. It's like the collapse of the Roman Empire except with wi-fi)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Something tells me he’s had this kind of photo taken before.


8 posted on 09/17/2023 6:41:36 PM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Tatoos on the neck and face are always a warning sign.


9 posted on 09/17/2023 6:44:33 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie
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To: ClearCase_guy
What was your first hint?


10 posted on 09/17/2023 6:50:28 PM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: cyclotic

There was a story a few years ago about a gravel quarry in Germany where the owner had his 9-year-old grandson running a front-end loader, one of the fairly large ones. Some busybodies were getting upset about it, and the owner told them it was private property and the kid was a better operator than most of the other employees.


11 posted on 09/17/2023 6:52:02 PM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

This man should have been shot.

You have no idea how many people you can kill toppling a wall at Walmart.


12 posted on 09/17/2023 6:53:54 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

An upstanding Christian man I see…


13 posted on 09/17/2023 6:54:33 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: EEGator
He wears his Christianity proudly.

14 posted on 09/17/2023 7:10:12 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

In the way that a herd of antelopes on the African savannah attracts lions, Gainesville and its mass of naive college students draws criminal predators and the criminally unbalanced. And, by a happenstance of history working to the convenience of the predators today, the State of Florida has numerous prison facilities located within an hour or two of Gainesville.


15 posted on 09/17/2023 7:10:44 PM PDT by Rockingham
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To: HartleyMBaldwin

That’s cool.


16 posted on 09/17/2023 7:15:00 PM PDT by cyclotic (It's a great time to live in America. It's like the collapse of the Roman Empire except with wi-fi)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks; 21stCenturion; 75thOVI; Abathar; alarm rider; albee; Alice au Wonderland; ...
INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH
HUMOR

No amateurs, please.
Send FReepmail if you want on/off ISHP list
The List of Ping Lists

17 posted on 09/17/2023 7:20:47 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Rockingham

Like Raiford?


18 posted on 09/17/2023 7:25:47 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: No name given

There has to be an alligator in the story somewhere.


19 posted on 09/17/2023 7:32:25 PM PDT by GaryCrow
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To: HartleyMBaldwin
My daughter was running an excavator at about 9 years old.

Joystick and foot pedal controlled, they are now just video games that move stuff.

She figured it out and ran it very efficiently, probably better than many adults would.

Part of homeschooling.

20 posted on 09/17/2023 7:34:56 PM PDT by Mogger
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