According to Windham police, someone commandeered a construction vehicle parked at a building site in North Windham on Sunday, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage.

The vehicle was a Caterpillar front-end loader owned by R.J. Grondin & Sons. Grondin is performing excavation and earth moving work at the Lowe’s Home Improvement construction site, where the incident occurred.

According to Police Chief Richard Lewsen, the loader was parked near the rear of the construction site in some small bushes. The perpetrator drove the loader toward the adjacent Downeast Oil’s property with the bucket in the fully-upright position. The high center of gravity caused the vehicle to tip over causing more than $30,000 worth of damage to the right side of the vehicle.

“What apparently happened was that someone drove it for a joyride and the left tire went up on a small incline forcing it to tip over,” Lewsen said. “It was a really big loader. The damage was significant. The right rear tire was destroyed.”

In addition to the joyride, the vandals also tipped over several porta potties at the Lowe’s site.

Windham police detectives James Boudreau and David Bonneau are currently tracking down leads and interviewing suspects.

“We have some leads and they’re working the leads,” Lewsen said.

Lewsen added that the vandals would be charged with aggravated criminal mischief, which could result in jail time and/or restitution to the owner of the equipment.