New York man is suing New York’s sanitation department after he said it made a 40,000-pound excavator vanish into thin air. In court records, Jeff Clemente claimed that the city improperly towed his John Deere hydraulic excavator while it was "lawfully parked" in Queens in October 2011, reports say. The machine reportedly was being used for a city construction project. Mr. Clemente said the sanitation department failed to provide him with information about the vehicle when he called to claim it, reports said. In records, Mr. Clemente said he still does not know the excavator’s whereabouts or the machine’s condition.