No matter how much you may think otherwise, those Totinos pizza rolls are not worth dying for. Your moped can't outrun the po po.
Be careful out there!
Love,
Mama Mae
PS- This is currently a big enough news story to be on the front page of our online paper. Love Bloomington.
BEDFORD — A man suspected of taking a package of pizza snacks from Family Dollar Monday, ditched the food in the parking lot and made his getaway on a mo-ped.
Bedford Police Department received a call to the store, 704 16th St., about 3 p.m. for a shoplifting report. By the time they arrived, the man was on his mo-ped, traveling east on 16th Street, according to BPD Chief Dennis Parsley. Two marked police cruisers with lights and sirens going caught up with the mo-ped on the east side of town.
The driver refused to pull over and kept riding, at a top speed of about 35 mph, Parsley said. The officers continued the low-speed pursuit, for about three miles. It came to an end when the mo-ped crashed near Shawswick School Road.
“The officers were able to get beside him and communicate with him verbally,” Parsley said. “He would then, however, speed up, swerve and get back in front of the officers — even getting in the lane of oncoming traffic.”
The driver tried to elude officers by going off the road and he lost control of the mo-ped. He was thrown about five feet off the mo-ped and suffered a cut to his wrist.
Paul E. Harting, 38, Columbus, surrendered without further incident, complaining of back and neck pain. He was taken to Dunn Memorial Hospital by ambulance, then to Methodist Hospital. A hospital spokesman said Harting is in fair condition.
Harting faces preliminary charges of resisting arrest by fleeing. He is also wanted in Lawrence County for warrants on check deception and theft. Also, he was cited with disregarding a stop sign and automatic signal, driving left of center and speeding on a motorized bike.
Parsley said low-speed pursuits present challenges, just as do high-speed chases, and Monday afternoon those challenges were intensified because the chase went by the area of Bedford North Lawrence High School that was about to dismiss for the day.
