A man carjacked an L.A. County Sheriff’s Department bucket truck early Wednesday morning while a sheriff’s deputy was precariously positioned high above the ground in the bucket, authorities said.

The suspect conducted a hostile takeover of a 2011 White Ford F550 utility bucket truck on the corner of Spring and Temple streets at 5:40 a.m. while two deputies were in the vehicle, according to a department bulletin. Authorities are now searching for the suspect and the stolen vehicle, which has the deputies’ personal and county-issued cellphones inside, the bulletin stated.

A bucket truck, also known as a cherry picker, is a vehicle equipped with a hydraulic lift system and an extendable arm that ends in a bucket where a person can stand. It’s used to lift workers to hard-to-reach areas.

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