By William Boardman
posted
Aug 9, 2012
Shortly after noon on Thursday, August 2, Vermont farmer Roger
Pion, 34, rode his parents' 20,000 pound tractor into Newport, Vt.,
on his way to the Orleans County Sheriff's Department's new
building, where he rolled back and forth over seven of the sheriff
department's cruisers (two unmarked) and a van, before moseying on
down the road with no one in pursuit.
There was no one in pursuit for a couple of reasons: first the
personnel in the sheriff's department couldn't hear what was going
on in their parking lot because they had the air conditioning
turned on and, second, once they were aware of what happened, they
didn't have a cruiser in which to pursue Pion [pronounced
PEE-on]. Two deputies pursued on foot, until a motorist picked
them up. Pion was stopped shortly after by the Newport City
Police Department, despite his apparent attempt to run over their
cruiser with two officers inside. Officers from three agencies
surrounded Pion and arrested him at gunpoint. No one was
injured.
A little more than a day later, the media coverage of this story
has blanketed America, if not the world, at least in its skeletal
form. The TV networks had it this morning, and while NBC, Fox,
and CBS played it straight, ABC's Good Morning, America
thought it was all pretty funny.
Within a few hours there was a dedicated facebook page titled,
"Roger Pion, The Magnificent," filled with links to coverage and
comments, mostly cheering for his gesture (such as, "warms my
heart," "a true patriot," "don't mess with a Vermonter" and "Robert
Pion: Patriot, Vermonter, Folk Hero, performance artist, smashing
the state, one cop car at a time....")
Pion is now incarcerated at the Northern State Correctional
Facility in Newport. His initial bail of $15,000 has been raised to
$50,000 and the state expects to arraign him on August 7.
Because of his alleged attempt to run over an occupied police
car, the Vermont State Police have charged Pion with a felony count
of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. Other
charges filed in Orleans County Superior Court include seven felony
counts of unlawful mischief, one misdemeanor count of unlawful
mischief, one count of gross negligent operation, and one count of
leaving the scene of an accident.
Pion was armed at the time of his arrest, but he did not pull
the gun out of its holster. State Police detective Lyle Deceker
identified the gun as a .32 caliber Czech handgun, the like of
which he'd never seen before. Pion has not talked to police in
any detail and remained silent at his bail hearing that was held by
phone.
Late Friday, attorney David Sleigh of St Johnsbury entered his
appearance on Pion's behalf. Sleigh is a well-known Vermont
defense attorney whose work includes a successful challenge to the
state's methods of testing blood alcohol levels of motorists
suspected of drunk driving during 2010-2011. On his law firm's
website he is described this way: "David believes that a good
lawyer needs to be proactive and willing to vigorously challenge
the status quo. Whether he is interviewing a client or arguing in
front of a jury, David's motivation is always the same: to be the
best defender of the rights of all citizens."
Sleigh has already announced his intention to have the
aggravated assault charge dropped, since the tractor never actually
touched the police cruiser and raised questions as to Pion's
intent: "He never came into threatening proximity of
anyone."
According to speculation by the sheriff's department, Pion was
motivated by anger over a recent arrest for marijuana possession
and resisting arrest and that speculation was widely repeated in
the media. But Pion's arrest was by the Newport PD, so that doesn't
quite explain why he crushed the sheriff's cruisers. The sheriff
estimates damages at about $300,000 while the Vermont State Police
put it at about $250,000. Police agencies around the state are
providing substitute vehicles to Orleans County, which is on the
Canadian border.
Although he is widely characterized as a "farmer," (including at
the top of this story), it's not clear how accurate that
characterization is. His parents are apparently farmers, but he may
have been growing something else. On his facebook site he says he's
"self-employed."
Speculation from a non-police, anonymous source has a different,
but coherent story: "Evidently, the backstory is that
he's not right in the head, after getting wacked in the head by a
hoe years ago. His friends say that he has been self-medicating
with mj, with good results, otherwise he becomes agitated and
unruly. In this case, it's probably true. Once the helpful
police took away his medicine that helped him be a good,
productive, member of society, his already documented mental
illness reasserted itself, and the destroyed cars are the
result. Hoisted by their own petard. Another clear example of
the nanny state doing more harm than good. A good lawyer
should get these charges reduced. However, since he is flat out
broke, he may be destroyed by the system."
Tagged:
Tractor, Crushes, Police Cruisers
