Taneytown Resident Rodney Davis Charged With Driving Truck Into City Hall Over Water Bill Dispute
TANEYTOWN, Md. (WJZ) -- A Taneytown resident faces nine separate charges after allegedly driving his truck into the community's city hall Friday evening due to a dispute over a water bill.
Police arrested Rodney Davis at city hall after he reportedly rammed into the building repeatedly because his water was shut off.
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"The initial hit took out the front then of course he continued ramming until he was all the way through the front office," Mayor Bradley Wantz said.
Front office staff had left for the Labor Day weekend around an hour before the Dodge Dakota crashed into their desks. For now, those staffers will be relocated to the police department, while Tuesday's city council meeting will be held at the fire department building.
The damage forced city hall to close Tuesday and Wednesday as the cleanup begins. Broken glass and tire marks remained visible Tuesday afternoon.
Bernice Nunnally saw the events unfold and said she was glad no one, including the city employee inside at the time, was hurt.
"I thought he passed out because the first time he ran in he put his head down on the steering wheel and was holding the steering wheel 10 and two," she said. "I proceeded to walk to the truck and say, 'Sir, are you okay?' and that's when he told me to get the f--- away from his truck and these people want his effing life."
In a statement over the weekend, Wantz described Davis as a "disgruntled resident" and called the incident "nothing less than a terroristic attack on the city."
He said every city employee deserves to feel safe at their workplace.
"The priority here rebuilding is going to be safety and security for our employees," Wantz said. "We live in a different time not just locally but nationally where we need to take that into serious consideration, so as we rebuild that's our opportunity to make sure appropriate security in place to make sure that they're safe at work."
Davis is charged with second-degree burglary, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, malicious destruction of property over $1,000 in value, malicious destruction of property scheme over $1,000 in value, reckless driving, negligent driving, failure to control vehicle speed to avoid a collision and failure to obey a traffic control device.
Wantz said residents needing to visit city hall should call 410-751-1100 to be directed to the proper location. The building is expected to fully reopen by next week at the latest.
