Dump Truck Driver Charged After Police Cruisers Are Rammed

GLENARDEN, Md. (WJZ) — A driver is accused of crushing police cars in Prince George's County. It's an attack investigators say was intentional.

Rick Ritter has more details on the suspect, who has a history of mental illness.

Inches away from death, jaw-dropping surveillance video shows a dump truck plow into a set of police cruisers.

It's an attack Prince George's County investigators are calling an attempted assassination of two of their own.

"It's a shame because these guys are putting their lives on the line for us every day," said one nearby resident.

Wednesday morning, two officers were talking next to their cruisers in a parking lot of the Glenarden Woodmore Towne Centre when a man approached them in a dump truck.

"He thought his brother had been shot in Washington, D.C. and when he saw the police officers in Prince George's County, he fixated on that," said Chief Mark Magaw of Prince George's County Police Department.

Things quickly took a wild turn as officers asked him to move his truck.

"They said to him, 'Have a nice day, sir. At which point, he said, 'We're about to have a nice day,'" an investigator said.

The driver then rammed into the back of the cruisers, dragging one 50 feet. The officers were able to jump out of the way.

"If they had not seen this dump truck around the corner and got out of the way, they'd be crushed and we'd be planning two funerals," said Magaw.

The attack happened right in the lot. Police say the suspect then jumped out of his truck and approached both officers, but they were quickly able to take him into custody.

Investigators say the suspect, 31-year-old Gene Thomas Brandon Jr., has a history of mental illness.

Ritter: "Do you believe this incident was similar to New York or any retaliation like that?"

Chief Magaw: "Nothing comes back to New York or Ferguson. This looks like an isolated incident with a person with a history of mental illness that hasn't taken their medicine."

An incident that unfolded in less than a minute, and somehow didn't end tragically.

"We're very grateful these officers weren't hurt because by the grace of God, they weren't," said Magaw.

Neither the driver nor officers were injured in the incident.

Detectives say they suspect told them he had not been taking his prescribed medication.

The suspect is being charged with attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault.

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