Bulldozer Rampage 911 Call: ‘He’s Smashing My House Plum to Pieces’
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(PORT ANGELES, Wash.) — Newly released 911 tapes from a panicked homeowner in Washington state give a detailed play by play of a neighbor’s alleged bulldozer rampage that destroyed four homes, a boat and a truck.
“You better get some cops up here with some guns because this son of a gun is crazy,” Dan Davis told a 911 dispatcher last Friday from his Port Angeles home. “He totally wrecked my property altogether. He just totally wiped it out. He’s smashing my house plum to pieces!”
Barry Swegle, 51, is charged with assault, burglary and malicious mischief for his alleged role in damaging four homes with a bulldozer during a rampage over a property line dispute with a neighbor, police said. Swegle allegedly destroyed a boat, truck and knocked over a power pole, causing a power, cable and Internet outage to a few thousand in the surrounding area.
Clallam County Police Under-sheriff Ron Peregrin told ABC News on Tuesday that the dispute was likely over a fence that Davis built on the property line next to Swegle’s property.
Police released Davis’ 911 call this week as he watched the bulldozer destroy his property.
“There’s a guy with a T9 bulldozer that just come onto my property, knocked my fence down and knocked my house down,” Davis told a dispatcher.
Davis identified the man driving the bulldozer as Swegle when the dispatcher asked him if he knew the driver.
“He’s heading right over my new diesel pickup. Right over the top of it! Now he’s going to the cab running it over,” Davis said. “Now I don’t have a house, I don’t have a truck, I don’t have power on my property. He totally destroyed my place. Totally.”
Swegle’s lawyer said this all boils down to a fence-related property-line dispute.
“I have known [Swegle] for many years. He has no history of anything like this. Nothing even close,” Karen Unger said. “Apparently he was not interested in hurting anybody because nobody was hurt, and given the proximity to his neighbor it would seem violence against others is not part of his plan.”
Swegle is still being held in jail with a bail of $1 million. He has pleaded not guilty and is expected to appear in court later Friday when a date for the trial could be announced.
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