HARVEY, LA (WGNO) — Workers used a huge, industrial crane to pull a 178,000 pound excavator from the Harvey Canal on Friday.

According to Jefferson Parish deputies, the excavator was stolen from a nearby construction site along the Westbank Expressway.

They say 23-year-old William Strenght refused to pullover and get out from behind the controls of the giant machine.  Deputies say Strenght led them on a slow but dangerous chase that left a path of downed trees and utility poles.  Deputies say he eventually drove it into the Harvey Canal.

But the chase didn’t end there.  Deputies say Strenght tried to avoid them by swimming across the canal and back.  Eventually, they used two flat boats to corner and arrest him.

Strenght faces a list of charges incuding DWI.  Deputies say he was uninjured during the incident.