Angry man flattens Vermont police cruisers with a tractor

Vermont police learned the hard way this week why sometimes it's important to take precautions after arresting an alleged pot lover with an anger management problem and access to a large farm vehicle.

As the Associated Press reports, Orleans County sheriff's deputies felt the wrath of Roger Pion's tractor after the 34-year-old allegedly rolled over and crushed half the county's fleet of police cars.

Pion was reportedly angry about his arrest last month for Marijuana possession and resisting arrest. Police say he allegedly enacted his revenge on five cruisers, one unmarked squad car and a transport van. On Thursday, all deputies were (mercifully) inside the building when a tractor pulled into the parking lot and made a stack of metal pancakes.

A neighbour who witnessed the impromptu one-man monster tractor rally had to call 911 before police discovered what was going on — the police building's thick, insulated walls and loud a/c unit kept the sound of crunching metal from penetrating their interior offices.

By that time, the tractor was already pulling out of the lot and headed back to the main road. Police would have been in hot pursuit… had they any remaining not flattened vehicles with which to follow the suspect. Their colleagues in nearby Newport were called in to help and caught up with Pion before he got too far.

Pion was charged with 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.

He's currently being held on $15,000 bail at Newport's Northern State Correctional Center.

And while no one was hurt in the fracas, damage is estimated to run close to $300,000.

In addition to caved in roofs and trunks, Sherriff Kirk Martin revealed "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."