Stolen pickup truck ditched in BG, suspects evade drone search

Bowling Green Police Divisioon sign

A stolen truck was ditched in Bowling Green early this morning after one of the police division’s license plate cameras hit on the plate of the Ford F-250 that was reportedly stolen in Ottawa County.

The 2020 truck, valued at $75,000, was photographed Tuesday around 2:30 a.m., as it drove westbound from the area of Interstate 75.

An officer located the truck in a parking lot along the 100 block of South Mercer Road, with one person outside the vehicle and another behind the wheel. The officer reported that the driver of the truck started the engine as the officer exited his patrol car. The truck reportedly started driving toward the officer, who yelled at the driver to stop. The driver then accelerated at a high rate of speed out of the parking lot, driving south on South Mercer Road.

The truck reportedly turned westbound down one of the side streets, but the officer was too far away to determine which one. So the officer drove down each, and found the truck left in a field off Bentwood.

A drone operator from Wood County Sheriff’s Office was requested to the scene. Two drones were deployed, but a search found no suspects.

Officers walking through the area of two new houses being built on Bentwood, near the abandoned truck, found a jacket similar to that being worn by the driver, and a cell phone in a pile of dirt. The officers checked to make sure the new homes were secure.