A judge has decided a North Texas man accused of stealing a forklift and leading police on a bizarre, low-speed chase is not competent for trial.
A court official Wednesday said Timothy Raines of Fort Worth has been ordered to the North Texas State Hospital in Vernon for evaluation.
Fort Worth police said Raines stole the forklift from a construction site on Aug. 13. From there, he trundled along at a max speed of 16 mph while drinking beers, flinging the empties at officers while raising and lowering the business end of the forklift and generally making a nuisance of himself.
Several vehicles and patrol cars barely avoided being hit during incident, which was all recorded on video by a motorist following along. (That video has since been removed and that may be due to possible citations being issued to the motorist for following the chase.)
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports Raines left the forklift in reverse when he hopped off. Police jumped on the forklift and turned it off.
Nobody was hurt in the chase.
Raines is charged with assaulting a public servant, theft of property, evading arrest and driving while intoxicated.
