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Vermont man tried to use excavator to stop son's arrest, police say

The now-viral dashcam video shows the excavator lunging at the officers as they attempt to arrest the man's son.

HARDWICK, Vt. — A 52-year-old Vermont man was charged with aggravated assault after using an excavator to stop his son's arrest, according to Vermont State Police. 

Police arrived at Wayne Tallman's home in Hardwick, Vermont on June 14 to arrest his son on charges stemming from an aggravated assault and burglary case, but were surprised when the excavator's bucket began moving towards them, according to a post on the VSP's blog. 

Tallman and his wife, 48-year-old Amy Tallman, allegedly worked together to stop the arrest according to the police. The 52-year-old "recklessly maneuvered" the machine's bucket above the troopers and their cars. 

The now-viral dashcam video, posted on the Vermont State Police's Twitter and Facebook page, shows the incident unfold without sound. As the excavator begins moving in the background, two troopers confront and tackle a person — possibly the son — next to their patrol vehicle while a second person — likely Amy Tallman — joins the scuffle. 

As the troopers appear to subdue both people, one of them looks up and notices the approaching machine. While the other trooper continues to hold both people down next to the patrol car, the trooper who saw the excavator stands up and unholsters his gun. 

Over the next minute, that trooper seems to be having a conversation with the man operating the excavator as the shovel moves closer to the roof of the SUV. Near the end of the clip, the bucket appears to lunge at the troopers, causing both troopers to dodge out of the way. 

"They don't have a scenario at the academy where we practice this one," the department's commander was quoted on the Facebook post.  

Neither of the troopers was harmed during the incident, according to the Facebook post. 

Officers were able to "arrest all the parties involved without any injuries," State Police said. They did not release the name of the son. 

Wayne Tallman was later released with a citation for "aggravated assault on protected officials, resisting arrest, impeding, and reckless endangerment." His wife also received a citation for "impeding an officer." 

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