Waffle House is known for having some late-night shenanigans. But on Thursday morning, customers at the restaurant in Hapeville got their fill of absurdity.
A man riding a John Deere tractor pulled into the parking lot, followed by a crew of police officers who he’d just led on a low-speed chase. He’d allegedly stolen the machinery from College Park, according to Channel 2 Action News.
Needless to say, the man didn’t make it very far.
Hapeville police told the news station they spotted the suspect, Matthew Fortune, on the tractor passing by a Hilton hotel on Virginia Avenue just after 9 a.m. It was pulling a John Deere Batwing lawn mower.
Officers tried to pull over Fortune, but he kept going and eventually made a U-turn, nearly hitting police who tried to box him in, Channel 2 reported. Traveling at a whopping 20 mph, he continued a quarter-mile down the road into a McDonald’s parking lot before making his way into the Waffle House lot.
“You cannot make it up! Every day something happening at the Waffle House,” a woman is heard saying in a video of the arrest posted on social media.
“This is ridiculous,” another restaurant patron said.
At some point, police said Fortune hit a patrol vehicle. The video picks up after that collision and shows an officer quickly jumping on the tractor to stop him. The officer had just made it inside the cab when it crashed into a vehicle parked directly in front of the restaurant.
A second officer then climbed in and pepper-sprayed the suspect, Channel 2 reported.
Fortune was taken into custody and booked into the Fulton County Jail, where he faces a felony charge of theft by taking, according to online records.
Hapeville police did not return a request for more information.
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