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Police in Rapid City, South Dakota arrested a man they say stole a bulldozer and dozed electrical poles, rammed a pickup and damaged a building Sunday.
Authorities said 21-year-old Justin Thornley stole a bulldozer from a construction site and demolished a house before ramming other objects.
According to the Rapid City Journal, officers needed beanbags fired from a shotgun, a Taser and pepper spray to arrest Thornley.
According to Pennington County jail records, Thornley is charged with grand theft, obstruction of an officer and vandalism.
It’s unclear from records when Thornley is next due in court. A spokesman from the Rapid City police department didn’t immediately return a call for comment.
60 Comments on “Beanbag Shotgun, Taser, Pepper Spray Used To Take Down Rampager in a Bulldozer...”
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That’s almost literally the most exciting thing to happen in Rapid City since the flood of 1972.
Having been there several times, I was just thinking the exact same thing!
I think the cops showed admirable restraint, in most places it would not have been a beanbag shotgun used, it would have been their Glocks.
The kid could have put it in motion and literally not known how to stop it. Dozers are not the easiest machines to pilot. I’ve driven a couple of them with an instructor with me and 3 mph never felt so fast! And I’ve operated equipment all my life.
Are the controls for moving and turning the machine the same as on an average-sized crane? I wouldn’t be able to tell one lever from the next!
There are variations in control set up between manufactures but typically there is a lever for each track. The variation is the location.
I drove a new at the time D6 about 3 years ago. They’re all joystick now, just like new cranes. Makes for more precise control.
A few visual clues makes it appear to be a D9N that is about 20 years old. They would still be the old-fashioned, all mechanical unit in that era, I suspect.
I drove both a D6R and a Deere 700H. The electro-hydraulic joysticks make it easier, but a dozer is still intimidating.
I was amazed at the torque they have. I didn’t get into working it hard in the few minutes I was allowed on it but it had no problem pushing a blade full of clay at the bottom of the 25 ft deep hole we were in. The 6 was the baby of the fleet, there were 4 D8s and 2 D10s also at the site ripping ground. It’s just incredible watching those mammoths work up close.
He managed to start up the Cat, so I imagine he could have shut it down had he wanted to.
Beanbag, shotgun, taser, pepper spray and a Ford Taurus…
The automotive connection for this article is appreciated.
Thank You
They could have put a bag of pot, a fifth of Jack Daniels and a bottle of oxycontin in a clear plastic bag then mounted the bag on a long pole. He would have been unable not to follow it over the next cliff. this would have saved the cost of the bean bags and pepper spray.
…or some meth and Mountain Dew. Just hold it up in the air and he may have scrambled out of the cab like a dog chasing a squirrel.
Hope the dozer’s OK.
Sounds like they came down hard on him, like an Avalanche!
That’s one type of brodozer you don’t see every day.
Meth.
Also, he could have just pulled behind the police Taurus, and would have been immediately lost in blind spot, able to escape.
I think *he* came down on the Avalanche first! (Or at least pushed it out of the way.)
You pretty much iced the rest of the story, though!
“Also, he could have just pulled behind the police Taurus, and would have been immediately lost in blind spot, able to escape.”
As the proud owner of a Ford Taurus, I completely and utterly agree with your observation (and my inability to observe behind me).
Otherwise, an excellent vehicle.
Actually there is no blind spot in my Taurus since it has blind spot monitoring and a back up camera. It is truly an excellent car.
But don’t you know? Both those things are the work of the devil, and No True Car Enthusiast would ever rely on such electronic crutches.
(/s, just in case)
Bigger and better ‘dozer rampage:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Heemeyer
Not that it made any more sense.
I came here to post Marvin Heemeyer, too…
Yes, the “Killdozer” – certainly the Internet meme in the day.
It’s possible that Mr. Heemeyer likened his 18 month construction of the armored ‘dozer to that of Noah constructing the Ark; sanctioned by God to perform his mission; a mission that he had no intent of surviving…
Wow! These cops really went to great lengths to stop a white criminal without causing him any real harm.
+1 VoGO.
In more metro urban environs, I imagine the thief would’ve died of lead poisoning.
It’s not about race, you only hear about blacks as that is news. Did you forget about the young, white homeless man Santa Ana/Anaheim police beat to death and then were acquitted? Oh, wait, he is not black so not newsworthy.
Now don’t bring facts into it.
“Kelly Thomas (April 5, 1974 – July 10, 2011) was a homeless man diagnosed with schizophrenia who lived on the streets of Fullerton, California. An altercation ensued when two officers, Manuel Ramos, and Joseph Wolfe, two members of the Fullerton Police Department, attempted to arrest Kelly Thomas on July 5, 2011. Later Officer Jay Cicinelli arrived on scene to assist with the arrest. Thomas was taken to St. Jude Medical Center before being transferred to the UC Irvine Medical Center, where he was comatose on arrival and not expected to recover. He never regained consciousness, and died on July 10, 2011.[2][3]
Medical records show that bones in his face were broken and he choked on his own blood.[4] The coroner concluded that compression of the thorax made it impossible for Thomas to breathe normally and deprived his brain of oxygen.[5] His parents removed him from life support five days later, and he died from his injuries on July 10, 2011.[6] Officer Manuel Ramos was charged with one count of second-degree murder and one count of involuntary manslaughter; Corporal Jay Cicinelli and Officer Joseph Wolfe were each charged with one count of felony involuntary manslaughter and one count of excessive force.[5][7][8] All three pleaded not guilty.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Kelly_Thomas
Black people are being killed at a rate that is twice as high relative to their proportion of the population compared to whites.
“Among the first 500 deaths [of 2015], 49.6% of people were white, 28.2% were black and 14.8% were Hispanic/Latino. According to the 2013 census, the US population is 62.6% white, 13.2% black and 17.1% Hispanic/Latino.”
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/10/the-counted-500-people-killed-by-police-2015
So yes, the facts do seem to indicate that white people get the benefit of the doubt that appears well illustrated by stories such as this. Which makes it about race. The take away isn’t that difficult to grasp: STOP SHOOTING BLACK PEOPLE AND START CONVICTING PEOPLE WHO DO.
“Black people are being killed at a rate that is twice as high relative to their proportion of the population compared to whites.”
Don’t limit your thought so. To me this means we need to raise the standard for non-blacks.
I have local candidates if anyone’s interested.
As usual the race card gets pulled and only half the facts are brought out.
Lets bring the rest of the numbers out.
http://www.amren.com/news/2015/07/new-doj-statistics-on-race-and-violent-crime/
You have to be a bigot or a dupe with fourth-class research skills to cite American Renaissance as a source.
Jared Taylor founded The New Centrury Foundation, a self-styled white supremacist think tank known primarily for American Renaissance, its online journal. The journal promotes pseudo-scientific studies that attempt to demonstrate the intellectual and cultural superiority of whites and publishes articles on the supposed decline of American society because of integrationist social policies.
http://www.adl.org/combating-hate/domestic-extremism-terrorism/c/extremism-in-america-jared.html
Founded by Jared Taylor in 1990, the New Century Foundation is a self-styled think tank that promotes pseudo-scientific studies and research that purport to show the inferiority of blacks to whites. It is best known for its American Renaissance magazine and website.
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/american-renaissance
“You have to be a bigot or a dupe with fourth-class research skills to cite American Renaissance as a source.”
…And then you cite two every bit as self-serving and utterly ridiculous, the ADL and SPLC.
Some groups are fully deserving of being defamed, and the onus is on them to change that. The burden is not on me as a well-educated, articulate, and successful white male to accept them on blind faith of their better nature.
You should demand a refund for your alleged education.
“You should demand a refund for your alleged education.”
I’m sure that sounded clever and relevant in your head.
Anyone who would compare the ADL to a white supremacy group would be lucky to have a room temperature IQ. In metric.
PCH, I won’t dispute your characterization of American Renaissance because I know nothing about them.
That being said, The SPLC is hardly credible, they reflexively associate anything on the right with extremism and its primary goal seems to have been to make its founder, Morris Dees, wealthy. The SPLC has falsely labeled groups on the right as hate groups, inspiring documented acts violence against them.
As for the ADL, from my perspective it hasn’t represented any practical Jewish civil rights interests in America in years. They’ve refused to help religious Jews who have experienced employment discrimination and can be reliably expected to parrot most liberal causes. One example is their director Rosenblatt’s recent comments dismissing the notion that being armed might have helped save a few Jews during the Holocaust (or at least killed a few more Nazis). That flies in the faces of the thousands of people alive today because of the Bielskis and other Jewish partisaners.
Outside of saving people, whom do you respect more, those who went quietly to their deaths or those who fought in uprisings in the Warsaw Ghetto, Sobibor and elsewhere?
The ADL’s also a bit at odds with historian Stephen Halbrook’s Gun Control in the Third Reich: Disarming the Jews and “Enemies of the State”.
That being said, no, the ADL isn’t the equivalent of a white supremacy group. They hardly represent authentic Jewish interests so they’re not Jewish supremacists either. They do probably represent the political and cultural views of pluralities and majorities of American Jews, who are overwhelmingly on the left.
Of course, most American Jews don’t know much about authentic Jewish concepts, but that’s another discussion for another day.
You can’t argue with PCH, he froths at the mouth the moment facts are posted that are contrary to his beliefs. He cant dispute them so he resorts to name calling regardless of the topic or person. The DOJ must be full of bigots as well as THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE STATISTICS.
What a tool.
When I stated that your research skills were fourth-rate, I was obviously exaggerating. They’re much worse than that.
@mason: Regardless of the validity of one’s argument, accusing one’s opponent of name-calling and then immediately calling them “a tool” will not engender support from bystanders.
I look forward to the links from Stormfront and the Klan that will be used to bolster his argument.
“Now don’t bring facts into it.”
Oh, good to know. Because a white guy also died at the hands of police we don’t need to worry about all the black people that were shot in the back, shot while shopping for toys, shot while lying face down and handcuffed, etc. Or even the huge number that aren’t shot but get unjustly arrested in grossly skewed percentages as another poster pointed out.
There is much work to be done to reverse this disturbing trend – it has to start with an attitude change on both sides of the issue; investment in education and opportunity for minorities, and an agreement by minorities to improving the corroded family values that have led to their isolation in communities with little hope of prosperity.
“…investment in education and opportunity for minorities, and an agreement by minorities to improving the corroded family values that have led to their isolation in communities with little hope of prosperity.”
Until I see greater evidence of the latter, I will remain a staunch opponent of the former. Right now it’s just throwing good money after bad.
The day that we accept some people are nothing more than walking garbage, and deal with them accordingly, the better off the whole of society will be.
Altair7 appears to be inadequately guilt-ridden.
I like that… “inadequately guilt-ridden.”
That’s probably because I tend to judge people by their behavior, rather than mindlessly repeating the latest PC truisms absolving criminals of their crimes.
It’s a matter of population density and crime rate, not race. No police officer wants the hassle of paperwork and investigations associated with using deadly force. As long as lives including the officer’s are not at immediate risk, the police can afford to be patient. That and they had a chance to try out the full set of non-lethal tools they would rarely get to use. Beanbag shotgun, Taser, and pepper spray would have inflicted serious pain.
This. It was a Barney Fife dream moment.
Nest year’s budget proposal will be interesting.
I’m sure the budget for a new fleet of ex-military armored vehicles will include the supportive statistic “100% increase in bulldozer attacks”.
This also helps the other towns who want to buy a retired tank: “We don’t want to end up like Rapid City do we?! Why, we’d be crazy NOT to get one, we’re like sitting ducks! You see how many bulldozers there are in this town alone?!”
Isn’t it just that minorities, unfortunately, commit a greater proportion of the crimes? That, coupled with the “race card” being selectively pulled, has gotten us to where we are. (Consider, for example, how gangs use social media to OPENLY brag about their activities; I read a “Wired” article about that which was absolutely stunning and horrifying.)
I’d love to join this soirée of hamster trashing/defending but I’m presently distracted by wishing I could shoot a certain white dodo in my neighborhood.
In some states, such as California, 100% of crimes are committed by minorities.
Middle America fun I guess .
-Nate
I thought this kind of stuff got stolen all the time. If he’d been smarter he could of shipped out of state for $$$.
No tantrum instead. Now he’s going to be in a different danger in the jailhouse.
Joss, ordinarily I would agree with you. But since the article referenced two things…21 yr Old & Rapid City SD. The first picture that came to my mind was some dude working on his 40th hour of a Meth induced binge making, ahem, quality life decisions.
Perhaps some time on the inside will dry him out to a point that he can come to the conclusion that injesting/injecting Meth is not a wise long term health plan. Or he may just learn a better method of preparing his concoction. I hope for the former, but feel the later is the usual result.
Either way, we can agree that this gentleman is not on what we would consider the varsity team of thieves.
There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge.
– Hunter S. Thompson
A big dozer is hard to steal: you need a very big truck to move it, the size and weight of the load attracts a lot of attention, and then what do you do with it? The market for hot 80,000 pound machines is very thin. You can’t order replacement parts from Cat without a machine serial number, and without parts availability the D8 is worth scrap weight.
Thieves like to steal things they can sell, and hot D8’s are not easy to convert into cash.
03-05 Avalanche 1/2 ton without the Z71 package.
HULK SMASH!
I couldn’t for the life of me figure that out; my guess is that the truck was pushed into or out of the side of a building.
I would think that if that dozer could have somehow gone over the top of that, it would have flattened it.
Whenever I try this in GTA V, I’m dead inside five minutes.
In a prepared statement by the NBA (National Bulldozer Association) Bulldozers don’t kill people, people kill people. We at the NBA would like to explicitly point out that more stringent bulldozer controls and restrictions would not have prevented this incident. We would like to point out that if more of the public had acess to bigger and more powerful dozers this incident could of been stopped quickly and easily.
Lou;
This thread was rapidly devolving into a mudslinging contest; therefore your humor (sarcastic as it may be) is quite welcome.
+1