NJ junk truck was stolen for TikTok fame — then the cameras captured the crash

🚨Police say a stolen Junk Doctor truck crashed on Route 24 in Morris County

🚨The suspect allegedly livestreamed the pursuit on TikTok until the truck overturned.

🚨The truck's owners say losing one of their three vehicles has hurt their business.

DENVILLE — You could call it the "steal a truck TikTok challenge."

Timothy Geary, 24, of the Whippany section of Hanover, stole a Junk Doctor truck from the parking lot of an Exxon gas station on Route 10 in Denville around 3 a.m. on June 5, according to Denville police. He led police on a short chase and livestreamed it on TikTok up until the end, when he lost control and overturned on Route 24 in Morristown.

The audio and video from a camera in the cab of the customized 14-foot-long, 6-foot-high, 7-and-a-half-foot-wide Isuzu NPR/NQR style dump truck show Geary driving in near silence except for music from the radio for the first 12 minutes. Geary is on the phone telling someone he's going "f---in' 90" on Route 10. In another call, he says he is in a "big ass truck."

"Hey, TikTok, I got a cop on me," Gray says with a quiet police siren heard in the background.

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'It's been a long night'

At 14:32 on the video, the truck begins to sway back and forth, the brakes are heard being applied and the truck tips over onto its side. A camera outside the truck shows debris on the roadway as it slides along the pavement. An officer stops and tells Gray to "put your f--cking hands up."

Gray responds that he is sorry multiple times, that it's been a "long night," and asks to end the call before he shows his hands. He also tells the officer he is trapped.

The officer begins to use a small hammer to break the windshield of the truck. According to JunkDoctor co-owners John Alvarez and Greyssi Palomino, the truck does not have airbags.

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What's the motive

Palomino told New Jersey 101.5 anchor Eric Scott on the "Jersey Thing" show that she was woken up by a knock on her door at 3:55 a.m. A police officer filled her in on what happened, which led to filing a police report in Denville. Then she remembered the cameras in the cab of the truck.

"I was incredibly confused as to why, or what intention, or motive, or what would motivate someone to do such a thing. So, I compiled all the videos, they were many 15-second clips, and I put them all together for like 20 minutes," Alvarez said. "I still don't know what his intention was, honestly."

Geary told police his sole purpose was to steal the and drive it home. He was charged with third-degree burglary and third-degree theft of a motor vehicle. He was held at the Morris County Correctional Facility. His is being represented by a public defender

Palomino says they have the release papers to get the truck back but the loss of one of their three trucks has hurt business. They are working with their insurance company on their next steps.

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