[GAINESVILLE] – Of course if Florida Man steals an excavator the story is going to end that he crashes into Walmart. Florida Man Loves Walmart. We’ve had plenty of stories here about Florida Man’s escapades at his favorite department store. We had Florida Man found crawling through the ceiling at Walmart, two Florida Men that both exposed themselves at Walmart while driving motorized carts, and even a Florida Man the setup a meth lab in a Walmart parking lot. So Walmart attracts Florida Man like a moth to a flame.
According to a Gainesville Police Department post on X, Florida Man went for a joyride before crashing into Walmart. The machete wielding Florida Man hot-wired the $350,000 excavator and drove it around Gainesville. Jesse Smith, 47, stole the excavator from a construction site and drove it through a chain link fence before crashing into storage unit buildings.
GPD officers are currently working an incident at Wal-Mart (2900 SW 42nd Street) where the suspect stole a large excavator, drove it around the southwest (taking out power poles), and then drove through the wall of the Walmart. The suspect is custody. pic.twitter.com/5DY15fQdJZ
— gainesvillepd (@GainesvillePD) September 12, 2023
He then continued his journey crashing into electric and light poles taking them down exposing the public to live electric wires. He then proceeded to the loading dock and crashes into Walmart. At this point the Florida Man jumped out and ran, with his machete, into the Walmart, at which point he discarded the knife.
Smith originally refused to put his hands behind his back and resisted when police showed up. They eventually apprehended him and charged him six felonies. He caused an estimated total of over $2 million in damages.
