BROOKINGS — Rarely do Brookings-area law enforcers find themselves dealing with a rogue payloader, but that’s exactly what happened Sunday afternoon when deputies with the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office pursued a payloader into Brookings on 22nd Avenue South.

The incident ended with the arrest of the payloader’s operator, Reco Jones, 36, of Brookings, but not before the payloader struck a mobile home and pushed a shed, according to a Tuesday news release from the sheriff’s office. No injuries were reported.

On top of all that, the mobile home was occupied at the time and had to be cleared for continued habitation by the Brookings Fire Department, according to a probable cause statement from the Brookings County State’s Attorney’s Office on Tuesday.

In an interview with the Brookings Register, Assistant Sheriff Scott Sebring said it appeared alcohol and/or drugs were not involved, and that it was the first time he could remember an incident involving a payloader.

“It was definitely a strange one. This has never happened that I can recall,” he said, adding that no damage estimates were available Tuesday for the mobile home or shed.

Regarding Jones’s arrest, Sebring noted that Tasers were not used, that the foot pursuit after he left the payloader “was very short and quick,” and that Jones was cooperative afterward. He said two deputies were involved in the foot chase.

Jones, who remained in the Brookings County Detention Center as of Tuesday afternoon, is facing a laundry list of charges:

• Aggravated eluding
• Possession of a stolen vehicle
• Intentional damage to property
• Unauthorized use of a motor vehicle
• Obstructing an officer, jailer or firefighter
• Felony grand theft
• Criminal trespass
• Having a suspended driver’s license

The incident involving the Caterpillar 938M payloader was reported at 3:27 p.m. Sunday on 472nd Avenue near 216th Street, according to the release, and unfolded as follows:

• A traffic complaint was received regarding a payloader driving on the roadway into oncoming traffic and stopping in the middle of the roadway.
• When deputies found the payloader, they tried to conduct a traffic stop. Jones refused to stop and continued north onto 22nd Avenue South into Brookings.
• While traveling on the avenue, the payloader entered the ditch and again went into oncoming traffic before entering a trailer court in the 2100 block of 22nd Avenue South, where deputies continued trying to stop it.
• While pursuing the payloader, the owner called dispatch and advised it had been stolen from a business in the 800 block of 34th Ave South.
• Jones eventually went down a dead end within the trailer court and attempted to turn around in a resident’s yard. While turning around, the payloader struck a mobile home and pushed a shed before Jones left the payloader and attempted to flee on foot.
• Deputies captured Jones and placed him under arrest. He is being held in the detention center and bond was set at  $2,500. 

“It’s very fortunate that it turned out the way it did, because it could have definitely went the other way and been a lot worse,” Sebring told the Register. “When you got somebody that’s trying to get away in a machine that that’s big and heavy, a lot of bad things can happen — a lot of damage can be caused and people could get hurt. It’s very fortunate that it turned out the way it did.”

— Contact Mondell Keck at mkeck@brookingsregister.com.