Protester steals, fortifies bulldozer for 27-mile trip to Omaha, Nebraska cops say

A 39-year-old man called 911 Friday morning to warn police not to interfere as he drove a stolen bulldozer to protests in Omaha, Nebraska, sheriff’s officials say in a release.

Chad Thiessen of rural Murray, Nebraska, had taken the bulldozer from a road project and crudely fortified the open cab with chunks of wood, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office says.

He told deputies he planned to drive the bulldozer 27 miles to Omaha to deliver a message about corruption in the government and news media to protesters, according to the release.

Deputies caught up to Thiessen as he drove on the grass along Highway 75 after his 5:32 a.m. call to 911, sheriff’s officials said.

They diverted the bulldozer onto a county road leading to the Plattsmouth Airport. Thiessen drove the vehicle across farm fields and the airport runway, damaging them, then twice got stuck on railroad tracks.

Authorities finally contacted Thiessen by cell phone and persuaded him to halt the bulldozer in a soybean field, where he was taken into custody, the release says.

National protests erupted after video emerged of a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on George Floyd’s neck as he begged for air during his May 25 arrest on suspicion of fraud.

Floyd, a black man, later died. Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, and three other officers have been fired and charged in his death..

Some of the protests, which have spread from Minneapolis across the nation, have been blamed for clashes with police, fires and other unrest.

The violence and thefts involve much smaller groups at mostly peaceful gatherings, authorities say. The vast majority of the protesters across the nation have been “peaceful demonstrators calling for change,” law enforcement officials told ABC News.

This story was originally published June 7, 2020 at 10:21 AM with the headline "Protester steals, fortifies bulldozer for 27-mile trip to Omaha, Nebraska cops say."