By William Boardman
posted
Sep 6, 2012
When Roger Pion drove a big tractor over seven cop cars on
August 2, he became an instant internet meme and ended up in
jail. Although he made bail of $50,000 weeks ago, he is still
being held at the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport,
Vt., where the tractor-attack took place.
According to Scott Morley, the correctional facility's chief of
security, Pion remains in jail because he has not met court-imposed
conditions of release, but he is likely to get out by the end of
August.
Roger Pion's unique gesture of remarkably grand scale vandalism
tapped into Americans' deep and abiding distrust of police, a
source of laughter and disdain that's been a Hollywood movie
meme as long as there have been movies. National news media jumped
all over the story of the farmer who flattened law-mobiles with
considerable gusto, which carried over into international coverage
as well.
Despite immediate police efforts to turn public opinion against
Pion, he soon became something of an internet sensation and hero,
with dozens of Roger Pion memes like "tractor-pocalypse" or Roger
as Revolutionary War soldier. Facebook pages like "Roger Pion
the Magnificent" appeared in his support. YouTube clips of
family and friends proliferated, as did pictures of the wreckage of
five Orleans County crushed cruisers, one unmarked car, and a
van.
Locally, the police were subject to widespread public
ridicule. At the Orleans county fair recently one woman was
laughing so hard at police that the police detained her for a blood
alcohol test. But the woman was sober, she blew 0.0, and went on
laughing, reported Pion's sister.
Alleged police harassment of the Pion family and supporters
continue to appear online. One of the officers accused of
ongoing harassment is the same officer who arrested Pion in early
July, during an unconventional traffic stop of a car in which Pion
was in the back seat.
Anonymous police sources put out the narrative after the tractor
cruiser-crushing, that Pion had been mad about that arrest, for
possession of marijuana and resisting arrest, and took his revenge
by tractor. During that July arrest, police threw Pion to the
ground, injuring him sufficiently that he was unresponsive and they
called an ambulance. He was taken to a local hospital with a
concussion.
Although the internet fervor has quieted down, Pion's local
support seems to remain strong. A demonstration in his
support is planned for the day of his release from jail and a
larger, more dramatic action, featuring the "Mighty Tractor of
Justice," is planned for September 29 at an as yet undisclosed
location in Orleans County. This event is planned as a benefit
for Pion and as a rally of like minds.
