Boy who took cement mixer on high-speed joy ride was 11 years old

Police officer Gary Scofield knew early on in the chase that the kid behind the wheel of a stolen cement truck that tore through Dodge County and Dodge Center, Minn., for more than an hour Sunday afternoon was a juvenile.

But it wasn't until after Scofield's squad was intentionally broadsided, totaled and out of commission that he found out the boy was just 11 years old.

On Monday, as the preteen was being held in a juvenile detention center and charges were pending, several videos of the speeding cement mixer surfaced on social media and continued to be the talk of the town of 2,700 residents about 20 miles west of Rochester.

Scofield, who has worked for the Kasson Police Department for the past 4½ years, was on a standard day shift when he got a call from his dispatcher about 3 p.m. asking him to assist a state trooper in stopping a semi.

The patroller became part of a caravan of sheriff's deputies, officers from surrounding towns and troopers who tried to herd the "gigantic rolling steel cylinder."

"A squad car is no match for a cement truck," Scofield said. "He showed no compunction about running over one of us."

The boy traversed highways, gravel and county roads and city streets, driving in and out of Dodge Center and reaching speeds up to 70 miles per hour. He'd feign a stop, then take off again when officers got out of their vehicles, Scofield said.

What went through Scofield's mind? "My God, that's a big bumper."

Kaitlyn Peterson and her boyfriend, Jacoby Zelinske, saw the chase as they drove on County Road 56 just west of Dodge Center. Minutes later, as they drove down 2nd Avenue, the two narrowly escaped getting hit as the truck barreled down the street from behind them.

"He's a big tall kid, but he looks a lot younger than 11," Peterson said.

Police deployed stop sticks, which punctured first one tire on the truck and then another, but the boy kept going. Residents lined the streets to watch.

"Every time he'd come down the road people would yell 'he's coming again,' " Peterson said.

Scofield said the boy jumped from the truck and ran but was quickly caught. Scofield said when the deputy brought out the boy, he asked, "Can I at least look at the young man who tried to kill me with a cement truck?"

"He looked at me, said, 'I'm sorry.' Not real convincing," Scofield said. "He did admit to the officers that it was on purpose."

Sheriff's officials did not say how the boy got the truck, but it was believed to be taken from a construction site.

The biggest thing, Scofield said, is that nobody was injured. "Absolutely every one of these officers did a stellar job."

Scofield said he didn't even start to feel sore until he reported for duty Monday morning. The assistant chief insisted he head to the hospital, where he got a clean bill of health.

Tim.Harlow@startribune.com • 612-673-7768 pat.pheifer@startribune.com • 612-673-7252