Thieves with stolen forklift try to rip ATM out of Lee’s Summit bank

Thieves with a stolen forklift tried but failed to rip an ATM out of a Lee’s Summit bank drive-thru early Sunday morning, according to police.

Officers responding to an alarm shortly before 2 a.m. at the Bank of the West, 100 S.W. Missouri 150, saw a white Ford truck leaving the scene headed northbound on Missouri 291.

Officers tried to use “stop sticks” to disable the truck, but the truck continued on with its headlights and taillights off, according to Sgt. Chris Depue, a spokesman for the Lee’s Summit Police Department.

Officers remained at the bank to examine the damage and evidence of an attempted theft.

Investigators determined that thieves had used a large forklift from an adjacent construction site to try to tear an ATM from its base. Their attempts did “extensive damage” to the drive-thru portion of the bank, but the ATM was left behind.

Patrol officers later found the Ford truck crashed and abandoned near Interstate 470 and N.E. Strother Road.

Police searched the area with K-9 police dogs but did not find any suspects.

The truck had been stolen from the parking lot of a motel in northern Kansas City, police said.

This story was originally published October 30, 2017 at 1:56 PM with the headline "Thieves with stolen forklift try to rip ATM out of Lee’s Summit bank."