A man has been arrested in Sommerset, UK, following a rampage in which he used a military truck to ram through a police roadblock. A total of nine vehicles were damaged in what was a 25-minute chase. Miraculously, no one is reported to have been injured.
According to the Bristol Post, the defendant, 41-year-old Geoff Marshall, appeared before the North Somerset Magistrates’ Court shortly after his arrest and pleaded guilty to 14 separate charges.
The court was told that the episode was triggered by an argument between Marshall and his wife. Marshall is said to have smashed his partner’s phone and thrown it in a river, following which she left their home to call the police.
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When police arrived, they found Marshall behind the wheel of the military truck. The truck in question has been identified as a six-wheeled, six-wheel-drive, 2.5-tonne 1958 Reo M35. The M35 was originally designed for the U.S. Army in the 1950s and has seen subsequent service with multiple armed forces around the globe.
Police officers are reported to have attempted to reason with Marshall before he moved the truck off the property and began to drive erratically. It’s from here that the police decided to form a blockade, which, from video, appears to have consisted of two Peugeot 308 estates and a Ford Ranger pickup.
One video that captures a portion of the carnage shows how the M35 managed to smash through the Ford Ranger with ease before mounting one of the 308 police cars. The truck then goes into the back of the Range Rover before taking out a lamp post. There are also reports that Marshall caused a significant amount of structural damage to the property of his partner.
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The total damage of the chase was estimated to be worth £80,000 (approximately $99,000 at current exchange rates). Three police cars were totaled, and one was damaged. Also deemed a total loss was the black Range Rover we see in the video, while a VW Golf, Ford Focus, a Suzuki, and a Seat were all damaged, too. Marshall also admitted to assault by beating, damaging a lamp post, damaging a road, destroying an iPhone, and dangerous driving.
The chase concluded with Marshall driving onto a bridge that crossed a busy motorway before climbing the rails. The Wellington Weekly News reports that the highway was closed in both directions before quick-thinking lorry drivers maneuvered their trucks underneath. From there, officers were able to talk Marshall down, but not before significant resources were deployed, including armed response units and a police helicopter.
The prosecutor for the case, Paul Kelly, said that he expects Marshall to be sentenced to a minimum of one and a half years of jail time. He remains in police custody because he is “unable to act rationally,” as ordered by presiding justice Trevor Morgan. Morgan described the incident as a “reign of terror.”