DERBY, Vt. -
Vermont State Police say a Newport man drove a large farm tractor over and crushed several sheriff cruisers and a van.
They say it happened around 12:40pm Thursday in the parking lot behind the Orleans County Sheriff's Department in Derby. Police say 34-year-old Roger Pion faces a list of charges and is being held a Newport jail on $15,000 bail. He's expected to appear in court Friday.
At the time, deputies say they were inside the well-insulated office and were not aware of the monster truck-like rally outside until the next door car dealership called 911.
"I just couldn't believe it. I thought I was dreaming," says Gilles Delabruere, the owner of Delabruere's Auto Sales.
Delabruere says he quickly realized this was no accident. He says the man on the red tractor lined up four sheriff cars.
"Then ran over, on top of them. Huge thing. It was unbelievable," says Delabruere.
Soon deputies say they came out and were told where the huge tractor had gone.
"Obviously we had nothing to pursue with but calls were made to the State Police," says Chief Deputy Phil Brooks, from the Orleans County Sheriff Department.
Police say Pion was arrested soon after and charged in connection with the destruction. They say he destroyed six cruisers, a van used to transport inmates, and slightly damaged the truck of a sheriff employee.
Brooks says about half of their fleet was crippled.
"It's a huge loss," says Brooks.
Brooks say the good news is no one was injured, insurance will cover the loss and other sheriff departments have offered cars to borrow. While police say they aren't sure of Pion's motive, they say he moved non-sheriff cars out of the way and only slightly damaged Serge Vachon's truck.
Vachon says his rusty bumper needed to be replaced.
