Girard contractor John Sorokach started his Wednesday morning like he normally does.
He stopped at a gas station to get some smokes and a coffee, but instead of a normal day he ended up on a wild ride in the back of his own pick-up truck.
Sorokach said he stopped at the gas station around 7:30 a.m. When he was inside, he looked out the window and saw his truck rolling backwards. Thinking he left the vehicle in neutral, he ran out and tried to get in the front seat, only to find the door locked and a man sitting inside beginning to drive away.
"I looked in, you could see him," Sorokach said. "I tried to stop him. When he wouldn't open the door, I got right in the bed."
And that's when the adventure began. Sorokach grabbed his cell phone so police could catch up with them.
And Sam Mosca, a security officer at the Girard Muncipal Building, and who was on his way to work, said he pulled on Liberty Street near the gas station and saw the whole thing.
"There is a guy in the back bouncing around," said Mosca. "I didn't realize what was going on."
Even though police do not advise someone jumping in the back of a stolen truck, Sorokach said he did what he felt he had to do.
"This is my life here, this is all I do," he said. "It is how I make my money. If that is gone, I wouldn't know what to do."
With Sorokach letting police know which way the truck was traveling, they were able to stop it a short time later on Mosier Road. They arrested Matthew McCale and charged him with receiving stolen property. He is being held in the Trumbull County Jail.
Sorokach, who was not hurt, said he is grateful to Girard dispatcher Tim O'Neil and police Capt. Chris O'Brien.
