ROACHDALE, Ind. (WXIN) – Police in Roachdale, Indiana, may have wished they had a Pokeball in order to help catch a wild Pikachu spotted driving a lawnmower recklessly through the small-town streets on Halloween.
In what the Roachdale Police Department assured was a first, an officer found himself in pursuit of a 19-year-old citizen “dressed as Pikachu” on Monday night, giving both police and witnesses a night to remember, the department wrote in a news release.
Officers say the suspect had been recklessly driving a modified lawn mower through the town with a trailer in tow, while children dressed as ghosts and ghouls prowled the streets in pursuit of candy.
A deputy located the erratic lawnmower driver and quickly realized it was no ordinary driver, but rather a rare Pokemon: the lawnmower Pikachu.
The deputy “attempted to make a traffic stop on the mower,” police wrote. “Unfortunately Pikachu turned around, flipped [the deputy] off, and continued on.”
Police said “the pursuit” of lawnmower Pikachu went for a few blocks before the deputy broke off the chase due to man’s driving becoming erratic and dangerous. At one point, he even attempted to hit the deputy’s vehicle, police said.
Police were able to identify the suspect beneath the Pikachu garb, however, and later arrived at his home where, “after a brief scuffle,” two officers were able to subdue the man — no longer in his Pikachu costume — and take him into custody.
Police said the 19-year-old Roachdale citizen faces two counts of resisting law enforcement.
Alcohol or drugs are not believed to have been a contributing factor in the Pikachu-dressed man’s antics, according to Roachdale police.
“At this time, we believe Pikachu acted alone and no other Pokemon characters were involved in this incident,” Roachdale Police Department wrote. “However, we are not opposed to catching them all…”
