A man driving a stolen forklift in Council Bluffs tried to ram a police cruiser this (Friday) morning. According to Bluffs Police, officers responded at around 9:20-a.m. to the area of 16th Avenue and High Street, for a reported hit-and-run accident, in which the caller said the vehicle responsible was a construction-type forklift.

While officers were enroute, the communications center received numerous other calls about the driver of the forklift operating the machine erratically. Council Bluffs Police Officer Ron Branigan saw the forklift in the area of South 10th Street and 7th Avenue. When the driver of the machine saw the officer’s cruiser, he turned sharply in an alleged attempt to ram the cruiser.

Officer Branigan was able to avoid a collision, and followed the machine in an attempt to stop it. At the intersection of South 10th and 5th Avenue, the driver spun the forklift around, and again tried to ram Branigan’s cruiser. The officer again avoided the collision. In the area of South 12th Street and 5th Avenue, the forklift stopped after essentially being surrounded by police.

The driver, 39-year old Michael Lynn Burgess, of Council Bluffs, was taken into custody without further incident and brought to the Pottawattamie County Jail. Burgess was charged with 1st Degree Theft, Assault on a Police Officer with a dangerous weapon, and leaving the scene of an accident. Authorities determined the forklift was stolen from Midwest Walnut, at 1914 Tostevin Street.