This is about as exciting as it gets here in Sparta. Read on if you care to.
Yesterday afternoon around 3:00 pm I heard sirens, lots of sirens zooming down the highway in front of our house. I hadn't really heard that many at one time before so I thought there must have been a serious accident. I didn't even bother to look down the road or anything. I've heard sirens before so I didn't think much of it.
At 6:30 pm I left my house to go take Jaren some dinner at work. There were still police cars outside and they were blocking the highway. When I returned home they were still there except this time I couldn't even get to my normal turn. I had to take an earlier turn and drive through another neighborhood because the highway was blocked off. When Jaren came home at 11:00 pm they were still there! I found out the reason why...
At about 3:00 pm there was a semi-truck driving erratically through the area. Police tried to pull him over but he refused to stop and instead led them on a 23 mile chase through little old Sparta, sideswiping a dump truck in the process. They used tire spikes to get him to stop. Even after he stopped, it was over an hour before they could get him out of the cab. When he finally got out he would not obey officials' commands and was shot with bean bags and non-lethal plastic rounds. In the initial conversation with authorities the driver was asked if there was a bomb inside the truck to which the driver responded that there was. A bomb-sniffing dog was alerted to something inside so the Bomb Squad was called in. The FBI was also there to assist local officials. Meanwhile homes along the highway were evacuated and the highway was closed in that area. In the full search of the truck nothing was found but energy drinks.
The man was treated for minor injuries before being taken to the Monroe County Jail where he was questioned by federal authorities. He did not speak English but spoke an Indian dialect of Punjabi. An interpreter was called in from Fort McCoy to assist in questioning the man. When Federal agent asked him to confirm that there were explosives in the cargo he refused to do so and went on to say he didn't remember making such a claim in an earlier conversation. It is possible he didn't understand them. There is no proof that this was intended to be a Terrorist attack.
The man picked up his cargo of energy drinks in the Twin Cities (St Paul/Minneapolis, MN) and was supposed to be heading back to Canada where he was from but got lost, heading East instead of North. He had turned back around toward Minnesota when reports of his erratic driving came in. He is being held on suspicion of felony fleeing and reckless endangerment.
Like I said, this is about as exciting as it gets here in Sparta. How many of you have had police cars blocking your road for over 8 hours with homes evacuated just down the street from you?
Yesterday afternoon around 3:00 pm I heard sirens, lots of sirens zooming down the highway in front of our house. I hadn't really heard that many at one time before so I thought there must have been a serious accident. I didn't even bother to look down the road or anything. I've heard sirens before so I didn't think much of it.
At 6:30 pm I left my house to go take Jaren some dinner at work. There were still police cars outside and they were blocking the highway. When I returned home they were still there except this time I couldn't even get to my normal turn. I had to take an earlier turn and drive through another neighborhood because the highway was blocked off. When Jaren came home at 11:00 pm they were still there! I found out the reason why...
At about 3:00 pm there was a semi-truck driving erratically through the area. Police tried to pull him over but he refused to stop and instead led them on a 23 mile chase through little old Sparta, sideswiping a dump truck in the process. They used tire spikes to get him to stop. Even after he stopped, it was over an hour before they could get him out of the cab. When he finally got out he would not obey officials' commands and was shot with bean bags and non-lethal plastic rounds. In the initial conversation with authorities the driver was asked if there was a bomb inside the truck to which the driver responded that there was. A bomb-sniffing dog was alerted to something inside so the Bomb Squad was called in. The FBI was also there to assist local officials. Meanwhile homes along the highway were evacuated and the highway was closed in that area. In the full search of the truck nothing was found but energy drinks.
The man was treated for minor injuries before being taken to the Monroe County Jail where he was questioned by federal authorities. He did not speak English but spoke an Indian dialect of Punjabi. An interpreter was called in from Fort McCoy to assist in questioning the man. When Federal agent asked him to confirm that there were explosives in the cargo he refused to do so and went on to say he didn't remember making such a claim in an earlier conversation. It is possible he didn't understand them. There is no proof that this was intended to be a Terrorist attack.
The man picked up his cargo of energy drinks in the Twin Cities (St Paul/Minneapolis, MN) and was supposed to be heading back to Canada where he was from but got lost, heading East instead of North. He had turned back around toward Minnesota when reports of his erratic driving came in. He is being held on suspicion of felony fleeing and reckless endangerment.
Like I said, this is about as exciting as it gets here in Sparta. How many of you have had police cars blocking your road for over 8 hours with homes evacuated just down the street from you?
5 comments:
That IS exciting. I think it wouldve been exciting in a bigger place too. There was once here in L-ville there was a motorcycle accident on the freeway and someone was killed. (I did not know this until after when Jared was called into work. lol) So I sat in a line of cars for over an hour on the freeway until a cop came and had everyone turn around and go the wrong direction on the freeway to the last exit. It was really crazy to go the wrong way. It just felt wrong, and the Worst part was my redbox was late...come on people!
Hey the story made CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/14/suspicious.truck.energy.drink/index.html
Wow, that is quite a story!!! The "erratic" driving cracks me up because I don't know if driving in India is like driving in the Middle East, but I suspect so. Negotiating my way around Israeli drivers was one thing, but once we were on vacation in Jordan and had a Jordanian driver, and I honestly thought I was going to die before he got us to our destination. So I'm guessing this guy was just trying to get to the right freeway, and his "erratic" driving was pretty "normal" for him. You sure have had some excitement, haven't you?!
Wow! That's something!
Sounds crazy, I must say I haven't had that many police cars or houses evacuated, but I did have crime scene and police tape around our appartment complex in Vegas. Oh and Happy Birthday tomorrow, 28 is great fun! Miss you.
Post a Comment