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Demian Warner / The Newport Daily Express
Police say a man drove a tractor over eight police vehicles Thursday. The damage is estimated to be about $250,000.
A man driving a farm tractor ran over eight vehicles in the parking lot of a Vermont police station in an apparent revenge scheme, according to local reports.
Police said Roger Pion, 34, of Newport, Vt., flattened seven marked police cruisers and one unmarked personal vehicle at the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department in Derby, Vt., around 12:40 p.m. Thursday.
“We came out and sure enough there was someone who had run over our cruisers with a tractor,” Chief Dep. Philip Brooks of the Orleans County Sheriff’s Dept. told WCAX.
Not only were their roofs and hoods caved in, but “the radios are ruined, the radar detectors, the cages in the cars … We’re going to have to get the jaws of life up here to pry the trunks open and see about the rifles and shotguns,” Sheriff Kirk Martin told the Associated Press.
With the vehicles crushed, police had no way to pursue Pion after he drove off in the tractor.
Demian Warner / The Newport Daily Express
Police say Roger Pion took out more than half of the sheriff department's fleet -- some of its newest vehicles were only four months old.
“It felt like I was in a Monster Jam rally or something,” witness Rene Morris told WCAX. “I just couldn’t believe it. He’s backing up, going over it, turns around, makes his way to the other vehicles smashes those up, did his business and headed right down Route 5.”
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Police eventually caught up with Pion a mile and a half from the police station and arrested him. The motive is still under investigation, but witnesses believe Pion was angry about his recent arrest for marijuana possession and resisting arrest.
Stephanie Dasaro / Vermont State Police
Police arrested Roger Pion of Newport, V.T., after the tractor incident. He also was arrested recently for marijuana possession and resisting arrest.
The damage is estimated to be about $250,000, according to police.
No one was injured. At least two deputies had gone inside a few moments before after washing their vehicles, officers said.
Brooks said the destroyed vehicles constituted more than half of the fleet of sheriff’s cruisers in the rural county on the Canadian border. The others were out on patrol. Since the incident, neighboring counties have offered their help.
“We have other county sheriff’s departments who are offering cruisers to us,” Brooks said. “We’ve already had one county that’s dropped one off to us and we’ve got two others that are on the way.”
It’s not known where Pion got the tractor but police said he comes from a farm family.
Demian Warne / The Newport Daily Express
Police don't know where Pion got the tractor from but say he comes from a farm family.
Pion was held at the Northern State Correctional Center in Newport in lieu of $15,000 bail.
He is expected to appear in Orleans County Criminal Court Friday to answer to seven counts of felony unlawful mischief, one count of misdemeanor unlawful mischief, one count of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, one count of gross negligent operation, and one count of leaving the scene of an accident.
A man driving a tractor crushes 7 police vehicles parked at a sheriff's department headquarters in Vermont. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
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Leave a Comment:
Way to go moron. You screwed your family's farm to the tune of a quarter-million. If not that, you screwed all your neighbors who pay taxes that buy policing equipment. On the plus side, you are keeping employed the people who make new police cars.
Just wondering... what does the abbreviation "V.T." stand for?
"Violens tremens"?
What do you call eight squashed police cars? A good start!
Seriously, Vermont is not so bad, but all across the country, police are used to putting a hit on anyone they feel like, and never having to account for it. So, someone started to do a little personal payback. If it happened more, the police just MIGHT get the idea that there is going to be some accounting. Trouble is, they will pass the bill along to the citizens to pay, rather than paying for their own actions. But, a wind is starting to blow - just like the people down in mexico who kicked out the corrupt police an politicians and started doing their own enforcing.
If I was a cop, I would be worried about the supposed roll cages in the cars. They should protect the driver more than that. Those cages just crumple up and did nothing. THose cars are eupposed to be able to flip and roll without allowing the occupant to get hurt. The tractor driving over those cars should be less of a problem than flipping the car over. Those cages need to be re-designed. This guy did those cops a big favor.
Those 'cages' aren't designed to protect the cruiser/driver/passenger from a crushing or rolling situation. Their sole purpose is to keep separate, the cop and the 'bad guy.' That's all. They make them for dogs for cars too. Just not as strong.
Now I don't know if they were insured, but if I was a tax payer in that county, I'd be a little ticked. Sentence this guy to 10 years of washing and cleaning cruisers.
No doubt, he's going to jail! He picked on the wrong people!
WomenOnGuard, Sounds like the cops picked on the wrong person.
Would love to see more of this in my state.
This guy rocks! We need more American heroes like him.
Must be some way to connect all this to those communist Canadians and their free health care. Give me a few more hours...
It warms my heart to see a working class vehicle designed to be productive, destroy 8 non productive vehicles designed for the comfort of non productive government employees.
I would like to see more of this around the nation. Time to take back our country away from corrupt officials and their hired thugs.
Larue--- you hit the nail on the head.Lol
LOL WOOHOO!
Send this to anyone who gets a speeding ticket today!
It will put a smile back on their face!
Pretty hard to charge him for leaving the scene of an accident, when this was no accident.
As much as we all know this was wrong, in some part of our American hearts we're still all cheering a bad boy hero for stickin' it to the man.
If doing that was wrong, I don't wanna be right.
They better let him out so he can sell more dope so he can pay the fine and for the damages!!
Man, I would have paid $ to see that... Let's face it, what he did with that tractor many of us only dreamed of doing....he'll be a hero inside...
Brilliant! You get arrested for offenses that will probably land you on a couple of months probation and a fine, and turn it into jail time and a huge fine and restitution for sure. The Sheriffs will have their vehicles replaced before you even get a court date and all these sheriffs will have brand new equipment to ride around in. Yeah, you really showed them.
More people ought to start showing their displeasure at the marijuana laws to the police and to their congressional people, especially their elected representatives, both state and national.
This is funny.
He really showed them, didn't he. LOL
Half the force was on patrol..those cars that were parked off duty/not in use...but had their weapons in trunk. My police dept. takes all weapons out of cars when shift is over and locks them up inside police HQ.
People do steal police cars too..crazy but they do.
Well, it is funny!
One count of leaving the scene of an accident... But that was no accident. He did that on purpose.
I've never before in my life wanted a video of something on Youtube as badly as I do now.
i love this guy,lets start a defense fund for the guy,i HATE COPS
Why does the government criminalize pot to most people, but still supplies it FREE to some others? The double standard seems to be the important thing here. Decriminalize pot and this wouldn't have happened. I bet it is because the feds have their fingers so deep in the drug smuggling pie that legal pot sales are causing their offshore investments to drop and you know politicians can't stand it when THEIR money is at stake.
I'm a Vermonter who read about this yesterday. Its both hilarious and sad. Somehow I knew it would break national news. Stuff like this is the only way the rest of the country ever hears about us (normally) humble Vermonters.
My problem is that they said they couldn't persue him because he crushed the patrol cars. Really?! Go get him in your civilian vehicles you pansies, cop cars aren't batmobiles. You could have persued him on bicycle, I don't know about that tractor but my Kabota tops out at 15mph...
Yeah, but he could just crush them too if they got too close. Plus, if he's that far over the edge, who's to say he's not packing as well.