Derek Jackson Pulled Over for DUI -- While Driving Forklift Down Scottsdale Road at 2 a.m.

A Scottsdale man arrested on a DUI charge told police he was just trying to get home from a party when he was pulled over on Scottsdale Road around 2:30 a.m. Thursday.That happens just about every day in Scottsdale, but police say 33-year-old Derek Jackson was driving a forklift that...

By Matthew Hendley

July 4, 2013

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A Scottsdale man arrested on a DUI charge told police he was just trying to get home from a party when he was pulled over on Scottsdale Road around 2:30 a.m. Thursday.

That happens just about every day in Scottsdale, but police say 33-year-old Derek Jackson was driving a forklift that he had just stolen from a construction site outside Scottsdale Fashion Square.

According to Scottsdale PD, Jackson made it a couple blocks on the forklift before an officer saw him pass Stetson Drive, on his way into Old Town Scottsdale.

Jackson did not have an explanation for why he was driving a forklift but claimed he was just trying to get home.

According to information provided by Scottsdale police, Jackson "appeared disoriented and seemed to be under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs."

Police called the owner of the forklift, a rental company for construction jobs, and it said no one should be driving the machine at that time of night. Turns out, Jackson had absolutely nothing to do with anything related to construction -- he just took the forklift, according to the cops.

Jackson was arrested on charges of theft and DUI, and the forklift was returned.

Jackson served a little more than two years in prison, from 2008 to 2010, for drug charges, state prison records show.

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