Police arrive to find criminal hoisted 20 feet above junkyard: 'I refuse to drop this thing to let him out and run'

Employees at a junkyard in Akron, Ohio, spotted a criminal breaking into a vehicle last month and figured he could use a lift — though likely not the kind he had in mind.

Alexander Funk, 26, previously convicted of criminal trespassing and drug abuse, has allegedly made multiple incursions into Arlington Auto Wrecking on North Arlington Street. Employees told police they once caught Funk but let him go. On another occasion, an employee claimed he discovered Funk in his back seat and called police, but before officers could apprehend the trespasser, Funk escaped, reported WOIO-TV.

Apparently the wrecking crew had enough.

On Oct. 17, Funk returned, this time stealing into a black SUV parked at the junkyard. Upon learning from his coworkers what was happening, an employee raced over in a forklift, scooped up the vehicle, and lifted it along with would-be thief inside roughly 20 feet into the air until police arrived.

"We're having a lot of trouble here with people stealing stuff and everything, and we got a guy that's passed out or crashed in one of our vehicles in our yard, and I got the vehicle picked up with the loader and he's probably 20 feet in the air now, and I refuse to drop this thing to let him out and run," the employee said in his 911 call to the Akron Police Department. "I mean we've just had so much problems here with theft and catalytic converters and just fires and everything."

"So he's still in the car about 20 feet in the air in the loader," the employee added, leaving the 911 operator in stitches.

"Wonderful, that is the greatest thing I've ever heard," said the 911 operator. "We will get somebody out to you."

Bodycam footage shows officers awestruck by the employee's unorthodox crime prevention method.

An officer can be heard in the footage later regaling his peers with the arrest, saying, "He broke into a car at the junkyard, and before he could get out, he's done it before, they got like the forklift and they had him, like, I'm not kidding, like 20 feet off the ground, so when we got there, we went right into custody."

WKRC-TV reported that police pressed Funk about why he had a backpack containing a reciprocating saw, Sawzall blades, and other hand tools.

"All right, man, well, here's the deal," an officer told Funk. "There's been a serious amount of break-ins and converters cut off, and you got a Sawzall and you're in a private area of the business not open to the public. ... So what do you got the Sawzall for?"

Funk reportedly replied, "Copper, to be honest, brother, not gonna lie."

The suspect was charged with criminal trespassing and possessing criminal tools.

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