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An excavator was rigged to drive itself off an embankment and into a creek at a logging site in Centralia early this week.
On Monday, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 100 block of Blanchard Road in Centralia after receiving a report of malicious mischief.
An employee of the company that owns the excavator, Chehalis Rentals, reported that he arrived at the site to pick up the machine and found the John Deere excavator with a 21-foot boom had been driven off an embankment and was upside down in a creek.
The excavators controls were tied back with wire to cause it to move with no driver, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The damage likely occurred between 10 a.m. on Sunday and 7 a.m. on Monday. The state Department of Ecology also responded.
An exact damage estimate will not be available until the excavator is removed from the embankment using larger equipment.
The investigation is ongoing.
