Video shows theft of a front-loading ATM

SEATTLE (KOMO) – Authorities in Seattle are searching for someone who used construction equipment to destroy public property and stole a lot of cash.

Tuesday morning's robbery was captured on surveillance video, but there is no information on possible suspects.

A surveillance camera outside the Seattle Pacific University bookstore showed the large construction machine driving directly up to destroy and steal the ATM.

“I wanted to make a deposit,” said ATM user Adan Alabasbida.

The thief ripped the ATM apart and eventually dragged it to the middle of West Nickerson Street before maneuvering the front loader into position to push what appeared to be the ATM's safe down the street.

“You really need experience to drive a car like this because you have special buttons to make it go,” Alabasbida said.

“Someone must have known how to do it. I mean, I would have thought someone had keys. Can you hotwire a front-end loader?” said Seattle resident Barbara Endresen.

Another unanswered question is whether or not the driver of the pickup truck was involved in the crime spree.

Seattle Pacific University's security agency said the four-door, burgundy pickup truck followed the front-end loader as it pulled out of the parking lot and left campus.

“What do most people do? They steal the car and ram it. That probably required a lot of ingenuity,” said Endresen.

The university immediately alerted Seattle police.

Officers later found the front loader and ATM across from the Home Builders Center, about a half-mile from campus.

Seattle Pacific University officials said the incident remains under investigation.

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