Driver facing terrorist charges after smashing through wall of police station
Sometimes you can make a wrong turn when getting behind the wheel, but this takes it a little too far.
Police officers in the US were startled when a car suddenly made its arrival through their building on 20 September.
Now, the driver is being charged with an incredibly serious offence.
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According to security footage from inside the Independence Township Police station, a driver ploughed into their staff room whilst playing the energetic song Welcome to the Jungle on his car radio.
What can be seen next is the man swiftly exiting his car, very calmly putting his hands in the air, and allowing the officers to take him away from the wreckage to be detained.
But what has also been found is that it wasn’t just this event that he had committed on the day as he is also accused of deliberately smashing into the garage of a home prior.
The police went on to release the footage to their Facebook page, where commenters were able to give their take on the incident.
The department announced his charges as ‘terrorism’ among several others.
Later, in a press release, the Independence Township Police said that the driver, John Hargreaves from Belvidere, New Jersey, had ‘deliberately crashed his gold Toyota SUV into the garage door of a private residence in an attempt to scare or harass the homeowner, whom the defendant knew,’ before driving into the police station.
The security footage shows the moment the vehicle blasted through the walls and came to a standstill after colliding with desks and equipment.
Hargreaves is now facing charges of burglary, criminal mischief, possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, aggravated assault, harassment, and terrorism, police said.
Obviously, Facebook had some not-so-serious comments about the absurdity of the situation.
One person made light of his failure to park correctly: “Buddy thought this place had the drive through policy”.
Another was just thankful that no one was hurt when the car ploughed into the station, writing: “Craziness, so glad that none of officers or staff were injured.”
“That guy needs serious help, well when it goes to court, he definitely can’t say It Wasn’t Me!! Thank God no one was walking around in the area or sitting there,” commented a third.
The song choice was also strange for careening into a building, although we're not really sure what song would be appropriate of such an act: “Apparently he was blasting Welcome to the Jungle.”
Thankfully, the officers responded quickly and calmly to the driver, which led to a lot of locals commenting on their hard work and a job well done.
One woman commented on the ease of arrest due to the location of the crime: “OMG. Well it did make it easy for them to arrest him!!”
Another found it hilarious: “I’m not familiar with a lot of laws but I’m pretty sure you can’t park that there.”
It’s not known when the man will be sentenced, but thankfully everyone was out of the room when the car crashed.
Britt Jones