Police: Man crushes police cruisers with tractor

By DAVE GRAM Associated Press

Sheriff officers walk past crushed cruisers at the Orleans County Sheriff's Department in Newport, Vt., Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012. Authorities say 34-year old Vermont farmer Roger Pion, angry over a recent arrest last month on charges of resisting arrest and marijuana possession, used a large tractor like a monster truck, destroying seven police cruisers. ((AP Photo/Northland Journal, Scott Wheeler))

Sheriff officers examine crushed cruisers at the Orleans County Sheriff's Department in Newport, Vt., Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012. Authorities say 34-year old Vermont farmer Roger Pion, angry over a recent arrest last month on charges of resisting arrest and marijuana possession, used a large tractor like a monster truck, destroying seven police cruisers. ((AP Photo/Northland Journal, Scott Wheeler))

MONTPELIER, Vt.—Working in a stout former bank building with windows closed and air conditioners humming, Orleans County sheriff's deputies didn't know what was happening in their parking lot until a neighbor called 911. A man on a big farm tractor, angry about his recent arrest for resisting arrest and marijuana possession, was rolling across their vehicles—five marked cruisers, one unmarked car and a transport van.
By the time they ran outside, the tractor was down the driveway and out onto the road.
With their vehicles crushed, "We had nothing to pursue him with," said Chief Deputy Philip Brooks.
Thursday afternoon's incident ended when city police in Newport, the county seat of the northern Vermont county, caught up with Roger Pion, 34, a short distance away.
No one was injured. At least two deputies had gone inside a few moments before after washing their vehicles, officials said.
"Nobody was hurt. That's the thing everybody's got to cherish," said Sheriff Kirk Martin.
Vermont State Police said in a statement that Pion would face seven counts of felony unlawful mischief, one count of misdemeanor unlawful mischief, one count aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, one count of gross negligent operation, and one count of leaving the scene of an accident.
Pion was being held at the Northern State Correctional Center in Newport on $15,000 bail.
Sheriffs said they did not know if Pion had a lawyer. A phone number for him could not be located.
Martin estimated damage to the vehicles at more than $300,000; state police put it at more than $250,000.
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," Martin said.
Brooks said the destroyed vehicles constituted more than half the fleet of sheriff's cruisers in the rural county on the Canadian border. Others were out on patrol at the time of the incident.

Similar story from York, PA

York police chief: Vandalism of police cars means we're doing our job

York Police Chief Wes Kahley says that his department is getting under the skin of criminals.

By EMILY OPILO
Daily Record/Sunday News

York City Police Chief Wes Kahley (FILE)

York, PA - York Police Chief Wes Kahley pledged to further crack down on crime in the west end after two police vehicles were vandalized in the area.
At a townhall meeting Thursday, Kahley responded to a report that two police cars had been damaged while parked in the 600 block of West Hope Avenue earlier in the week.
Police had parked the cars in the area while investigating a rash of phony 911 calls, Lt. Tim Utley said Friday. The tires of both vehicles were slashed, and the rear window was broken out of one, he said.
While the department does not like to see its equipment damaged, the vandalism was actually a sign of the success police are having in the neighborhood, he said.
Police believe the incident was in direct retaliation for several arrests that were made in the block a night or two prior, Kahley said. Several guns were also confiscated that night, he said.
"While it's a bad thing, it's a good thing because it means we're getting under the skin of the bad people," Kahley said.
Informants have told the police who was responsible for the incident, Kahley said.
"To me, it's obvious that they want our attention. We're going to give it to them and make sure the people are caught."

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