Ohio Police officers were engaged in a pursuit earlier this week in Parma Heights. However, their target wasn’t a stolen car or joyrider; it was a giant inflatable pumpkin that managed to escape someone’s front yard.
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What happened: The Parma Heights Police Department shared details about the seasonal chase in two separate posts on Facebook. They explained that the runaway garden decoration escaped in the early hours of the morning.
- “Parma Heights officers found themselves in hot pursuit of a giant inflatable pumpkin rolling through town!” the post explains. The news release also shows several pictures, and the fruit was so large that it had to be strapped to the ground outside the house.
- Authorities say the pumpkin was “quickly detained and returned to its owner without incident.” Another picture shows the pumpkin in a sorry state, deflated and stuffed in the back of a squad car.
Ohio Police Shared Bodycam Footage Of The Rampaging Pumpkin
A community request: The Parma Heights Police Department posted about the runaway pumpkin later in the day. They explained that they received several requests for bodycam footage of the chase.
- “Officers can confirm that Cinderella’s carriage did, in fact, turn back into a pumpkin just after midnight in Parma Heights,” the post reads.
- The bodycam footage appears to show a bystander catching the gourd on the roadside. “It was pretty much a pursuit,” one cop says at the scene. They then try to squash the decoration into a more manageable shape.
- Another officer admits, “We’re currently struggling with this right now,” as it seems to keep filling with air as they try to deflate it. Ultimately, the deputies squeeze the pumpkin into the back of the car, and one officer drags it into the vehicle from the other side. One officer can be heard exclaiming, “I’ve never seen that before.”
A record-breaking pumpkin: A Montana man managed to grow a giant pumpkin, smashing state records at a whopping 1,591 pounds.
- 1,591 pounds is heavier than some motorcycles and even some small cars. It also crushed the previous record for the largest gourd by over 200 pounds. The state record was 1,348 pounds until Joe Nigro submitted his monster fruit for an official weighing.

