ANCHORAGE — An intoxicated man led Anchorage police on a chase early Thursday morning after stealing a front end loader from a construction site, then crashing it into a liquor store and stealing booze.
Police were called to the Brown Jug Liquor store at 2200 Northern Lights Blvd. around 3:20 a.m. Thursday after a citizen reported someone had smashed into the front of the building, according to a release sent out Thursday afternoon.
The caller told police they saw the driver of the front end loader walk into the store and leave with liquor bottles.
The driver, 38-year-old Joseph Martin, then attempted to flee and led police on a low speed chase through East Anchorage, the release stated. He was eventually stopped at an RV park on DeBarr Road and arrested.
“Officers could also smell a strong odor of alcohol coming from Martin’s breath and Martin also performed poorly on standard field sobriety tests,” police wrote in the release.
Police later discovered the loader had been stolen from a construction site located on Runamuck Place.
Martin faces multiple charges, including first-degree theft, criminal trespassing, third and fourth-degree criminal mischief and failure to stop at the direction of an officer.
He is being held on $30,000 with a $50,000 performance bond and third-party custodian required for release.
Nobody was injured in the incident, but the Brown Jug Liquor store sustained heavy damage, according to police.
Courtesy APD
