Driver stops to pee and raids crashed FedEx truck for Christmas gifts, Indiana cops say

An Indiana state trooper responding to a pickup truck at the scene of a big rig crash caught a man raiding the wreckage in search of Christmas gifts, officials said.

The trooper pulled up behind the FedEx truck — which had crashed into a ditch along U.S. Interstate 80 — but quickly noticed he wasn’t the only person at the scene Saturday, Dec. 14, according to a report filed in LaPorte County.

A pickup truck was parked nearby with a rottweiler sitting in the cab, and there was somebody inside the crashed big rig’s battered trailer, Master Trooper Tim McCormick reported. He quietly approached the trailer and saw a man with a knife cutting boxes open, one after another, and checking what was inside.

“I announced myself and ordered the suspect out of the trailer at gun point,” McCormick said.

The man put down his knife and told the trooper he was “looking for Christmas stuff,” according to the report. McCormick then placed him in handcuffs.

McCormick learned the man had already stolen several items from the trailer with a total value of about $1,500, documents show.

McClatchy News reached out to an attorney for the man but didn’t immediately receive a response.

The man, who is a Pennsylvania resident, told McCormick that he “stopped to urinate and saw ‘all these Christmas gifts’” in the wrecked FedEx truck and decided to help himself to them.

“He said that he thought he would save some money for Christmas,” the report read.

The LaPorte County Animal Shelter took the man’s dog from his truck, allowing McCormick to retrieve the stolen packages for evidence, according to the report.

The man is facing a charge of felony theft, court records show. He’s currently out on bond.

LaPorte County is a roughly 100-mile drive northwest from Fort Wayne.

This story was originally published December 19, 2024 at 9:15 AM with the headline "Driver stops to pee and raids crashed FedEx truck for Christmas gifts, Indiana cops say."