Man crushes 7 police cars with tractor

A man accused of using a tractor "like a monster truck" to crush seven police cars is out on bail. Roger Pion, 34, of Newport, Vermont, was reportedly angry at a recent arrest; he now faces up to 16 years in prison. Here's Laura Carpenter in the Newport Daily Express:

Fortunately, no one was in the vehicles and no firearms, located in the trunks, were discharged. The damage, estimated at between $250,000 and $300,000, included the vehicles, cages, firearms, radios and radar equipment. No one in the sheriff's department heard the ruckus outside; they were alerted after a witness called 9-1-1. That afternoon, two Newport City Police officers were in the area not far from where the red tractor was headed after the rampage. The officers followed the tractor in their cruiser, according to an affidavit by Detective Trooper Lyle Decker with the Vermont State Police. Pion allegedly looked back and saw the police cruiser behind him. He allegedly stopped the tractor and began to back up towards them. The cruiser then backed up, hitting a car behind it.

The evidence is clearly that America needs more weed, not less.

• [BrianOman]

  +this

• [jerwin]

  The cages are destroyed? Good. Maybe they’ll replace them with something more humane.

  • [DaveTheFave]

    Like maybe an electric force field that will shock the crap out of someone if they try to attack the officer(s) in the front seat.  :)

    • [Michael Smith]

      Nah soon the police will be able to program our implants to explode if we leave our authorised areas.

• [Deidzoeb]

  This is an auspicious start for the remake of Cool Hand Luke. Much cooler than just cutting off parking meters.

  • [SummerFang]

    Yes!

• [awjt]

  Yeah, we’re the smallest state, but we make the most noise.  

• [MikeB]

  this is the best part:

  “Friday, Pion drove a red Case MX255 full size tractor that has eight tires into the sheriff’s department parking lot, lined up seven vehicles, rolled over them monster truck rally-style, then backed over them again. He apparently moved a civilian vehicle out of the way and it sustained only minor damage.”

  nice of him to line up the 7 cars, and move the civilian vehicle out of the way…

• [EH]

  The most shocking thing about this story is that the police aren’t saying each car costs $350,000 to replace.

  • [awjt]

    No, but they are trying to charge him with attempted murder for backing towards them when they came a-chasin’.

• [howaboutthisdangit]

  Now they can get a grant from DHS and replace those wimpy cars with shiny new APCs and maybe a tank or two.

  • [Miss Demeanor]

    what they really need is an eight wheeled tractor

• [Nash Rambler]

  As much as I’d like to throw in a pithy comment to fish for ‘likes,’ would it be possible to get more information about the recent arrest that angered this guy so much?  As funny as it is, this guy was furious enough about it to react like this, knowing there would be repercussions.  A total BS arrest might be the culprit here.  Well, that and 21,550 lbs of tractor. . .

  • [boise427]

    He was arrested for marijuana possession earlier. In response to the government’s overreaction to what should be a non crime, he overreacted by crushing a few cop cars. 

    • [Nash Rambler]

      His lawyer should have his hands full.  On the flipside, Case Tractor’s PR department is probably considering a new advertising campaign.

    • [DataShade]

      Property damage only.  If it’s OK for an undercover cop, I’m OK with it as a protest.

• [pantsh8r]

  Am I the only red-blooded American here?!?
  Where are the pics of the crushed cop cars!

• [penguinchris]

  He does look quite pleased with himself in the mugshot!

• [DataShade]

  How has no one mentioned Marvin Heemeyer or the Killdozer yet?  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Heemeyer 
  http://www.badassoftheweek.com/heemeyer.html 

• [Crafty]

  He was angry at having been (allegedly unjustly) pulled out of his car and tasered by (allegedly corrupt) police in days previous.

• [BombBlastLightingWaltz]

  What a loser. He could of at lest took out the rear  corner stone of the bay/dock doors and plowed into the main structure. He didn’t try hard enough.

  Not that I condone larceny in it’s extreme but come on, if your putting your self out, go for total broke. 

  BTW he has that jail sex starved giver look. He be hunting for marks soon enough. 

  Source: my (first) cousin.

• [benher]

  They took the man’s weed. He did the right thing, only more of it.

   We should be building statues of this guy out of crushed cop cruisers and putting them in Times Square, Ground Zero, and the moon.