Stowaway rode on outside of semi-truck for more than 50 miles

Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Indiana State Police said a teenage stowaway spotted hitching a ride on the outside of a semi-truck had been riding for more than 50 miles.

State Police Motor Carrier Inspector Mike Buckly said he was working at a weigh station on I-65 near Seymour when he spotted something unusual about a semi-truck passing through the station.

"We were just running trucks through like we do every day just weighing them," Buckly told WXIN-TV. "And I happened to catch a face coming out behind one of the trucks on the tractor."

Buckly said "it was very obvious there was a person sitting back there."

Buckly alerted a nearby trooper, who chased the vehicle.

"He chased the truck down the ramp, got the truck stopped at the end of the ramp, and the kid was gone," Buckly said. "So we started searching the truck, and he had actually climbed under the truck."

The 17-year-old told investigators he had run away from his home in Shelby, Ohio, and hitched a ride on the catwalk behind the semi's cab in Louisville, Ky.

He was on the truck for more than 50 miles.

Buckly said the truck driver had been unaware of his outside passenger.

"The driver had no clue he was even back there," Buckly said. "He was very shocked. He was very scared, thinking the kid could have fell off."

The Indiana State Police said the teen was taken to the Jackson County Juvenile Detention Center while they worked to contact his family in Ohio.

"He was very lucky he didn't fall off between Kentucky and here," Buckly said. "I've heard stories of people hitching rides on trains, but never semis."