Imagine a fugitive attempting to flee police in a stolen golf course utility vehicle with a trail of squad cars — and a helicopter — in pursuit.
This isn't a script for an upcoming Randy Wilson video on TurfNet, but it was the scene Aug. 28 in Lincoln, Nebraska, when a fugitive allegedly crashed multiple vehicles while attempting to flee police after breaking parole. The suspect, Nick Roberts, was spotted by police parked in an alley in a stolen late model Chevrolet pickup, which he eventually crashed into a tree when a chase ensued.
Members of Lincoln's Parole Task Force attempted to pin the vehicle in the alley, but Roberts managed to escape. The truck eventually was found near Jim Ager Golf Course, where police say Roberts crashed into a tree, then went onto the golf course where he made off on a Toro Workman, complete with a retrofit GPS spray rig courtesy of Frost Inc.
As the chase continued, a police helicopter joined in before the suspect allegedly drove the rig into a Nebraska State Police vehicle 2 miles from Ager, a nine-hole municipal facility on Lincoln's southeast side.
Ager superintendent Bill Kreuser, Ph.D., was away from the golf course when the excitement happened, but knew something was amiss when he received back-to-back phone calls from a member of his crew and Lincoln County parks employee.
"We're next to a public road and a park and there is no fence, so (non-golfers) come onto the property all the time," Kreuser said.
Passers-by up to no good routinely help themselves to all kinds of things, and often vandalize the course, but this was the first time Kreuser remembered anyone making off with a mechanized vehicle.
"We've had people steal wallets. A student working here had a backpack stolen," Kreuser said. "They've taken flags and tee markets, and blown up cups that peeled back like an Acme explosive from a Looney-Tunes cartoon.
"It's public golf at a public park. Nothing surprises me anymore. We have dog walkers on the golf course, and M-80s on the greens on the Fourth of July. We also have some great neighbors who keep an eye out and call me when they see something is wrong."
Police informed Kreuser that they thought the vehicle might be totaled, but after scrounging for parts and making some adjustments to the Workman's suspension, the vehicle was right as rain in no time.
"We thought it was totaled," Kreuser said. "Some of the wheels were destroyed, the boom was bent and the suspension was damaged. But with some new wheels and tweaking the suspension, it's as good as new.
"The damage could have been much worse. Fortunately a head-on collision with state police squad car doesn't do much damage to a vehicle that can only go 19 miles an hour with a spray tank on the back and no suspension."
The Workman wasn't just any spray vehicle, however. It had been used to test data in Kreuser's next data release for his revolutionary Greenkeeper app that helps golf course superintendents manage spray schedules.
He had just completed rounding up integrated GPS spray data and had passed it along to superintendents in the field for further real-world Beta testing when the vehicle was stolen.
"It figures it was stolen the last day we were using it for testing," Kreuser said. "We've been writing software for six months and testing it. Had we not finished, this could have been much more damaging.
"In the end, it was just another problem we had to find a solution for."
Roberts was charged with multiple offenses, including theft, fleeing police, resisting arrest, assault on an officer, driving on a suspended license and criminal mischief.
