Metro

MTA worker tears down powerlines and trees after stealing bucket truck

An MTA worker went on a rampage this morning after he stole a bucket truck from a Queens storage yard, tearing down power lines and tree limbs in the Long Island town where he lives, police and MTA officials said.

Joel Grasman, 51, a veteran electrician with the MTA, allegedly stole the 66,000 pound Mack truck from an MTA storage yard in Jamaica, Queens this morning at around 4 a.m. before wreaking havoc in the peaceful town of Elmont, police said.

Nassau County police officials said Grasman broke into the facility with the intention of stealing welding equipment, but turned his sights on the truck when he realized the equipment wouldn’t fit in his vehicle.

“An employee showed up at around 6 a.m. and noticed that the facility had been ransacked,” MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said. “That person saw that the truck had been taken, along with a welding machine.”

The 24-year light maintainer proceeded to drive the truck out of the yard along Jamaica Avenue near 129th Street and headed east toward his hometown of Elmont, cops said.

It was then that Grasman decided to raise the truck’s extendable boom-arm and went cruising around a number of Elmont’s quiet, tree-lined streets, leaving a trail of destruction nearly a mile long, cops said.

Grasman proceeded to rip down electrical wires and tree limbs, causing power outages around the area as well as major damage to houses, cops said.

“This is a strange one,” said a law enforcement source. “The damage is quite extensive. He raised the [the truck’s] arm and raised hell. He just went up and down a number of streets taking down everything from power lines to utility poles to trees.”

Grasman was arrested and is currently being questioned at a Nassau County police station, cops said. Charges against him are pending.