They Showed Up to Arrest His Son. Out Came the Excavator

"They don't have a scenario at the academy where we practice this one." So Vermont State Police Captain Matt Daley tells WCAX of an incident that saw two troopers threatened by the swinging bucket of an excavator. The troopers had arrived at Wayne Tallman's home in Hardwick on June 12 to arrest Brandon Tallman, his 24-year-old son, on assault and burglary charges stemming from an incident days prior, per the New York Post. It did not go smoothly. Dashcam video shows the troopers wrestling with Brandon and his mother, Amy, next to a driveway as an excavator allegedly operated by Wayne moves toward them. The bucket swings over the top of a police SUV, then repeatedly drops, getting closer and closer to the top of the vehicle.

At one point, the excavator itself moves forward in the direction of the troopers, who are seen shouting at the operator to stop. After a muffled conversation, the bucket swings toward the troopers. One, who's holding the two figures on the ground, falls backward to get out of the way. The second, who's standing, jumps back, then points his service weapon at the person in the machine. "It could have been, 'Sir, turn around, put your hands around your back, you're under arrest for an assault,' and they would have driven away," Daley tells WCAX. Instead, Wayne Tallman was arrested for aggravated assault on a protected official, resisting arrest, impeding an officer, and reckless endangerment, while his wife was issued a citation for impeding an officer. (More Vermont stories.)