Family sues after Pennsylvania man with 10 pot plants is crushed by bulldozer in poli

[Robrites]

Family sues after Pennsylvania man with 10 pot plants is crushed by bulldozer in police chase





“The state police and the Pennsylvania Game Commission worker ran Greg over with a bulldozer, crushing and killing him, all over some pot plants,” the lawyer for the man's family said.




By Ben Kesslen
Gregory Longenecker had a date with his long-term girlfriend he wouldn’t make.
At around 11 a.m. one morning last July, Longenecker, 51, and a friend were spotted by a Pennsylvania Game Commission employee and police in an area surrounded by heavy brush and next to 10 marijuana plants they appeared to be growing in Berk County, Pennsylvania.
The friend was quickly apprehended, and Longenecker fled, running through the dense brush, according to a Berks County District Attorney report.
Soon, the situation developed into a chase -- a helicopter from the Pennsylvania State Police searched for Longenecker, and a state trooper along with the game commission employee followed him in a bulldozer.
Taking cues from the helicopter, the bulldozer drove where Longenecker was last spotted, as the brush was so thick that police felt they couldn’t chase him on foot. The incident ended, about 2.5 hours later, when Longenecker was discovered trapped under the bulldozer, unresponsive.
He was later declared dead.
The district attorney's report says investigators believe Longenecker “attempted to allude apprehension and intentionally crawled under the bulldozer when it came to a brief 30 second stop.”
Longenecker’s family vehemently disputes this.
On Monday, the family sued the state police and the game commission, saying Longenecker’s civil rights were violated, and seeking damages over an incident that they say should have never ended in their beloved family member's death.


Attorney Jordan Strokovsky, who is representing Longenecker’s family, told NBC News, “Ultimately, we want justice for Greg.”
“Those that are accountable need to be held accountable; those that are responsible need to be held responsible," he added.
<figure class="medium___16lj6"><source media="(min-width: 1000px)">

<figcaption class="caption___fMPAB f3 lh-copy grey-100 publico-txt caption___1mNth mt4">The bulldozer that killed Greg Longenecker in July 2018.Berks County District Attorney's Office</figcaption></figure>State police, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and members of Longenecker’s family declined to comment to NBC News.
Berks County District Attorney John Adams told NBC Philadelphia that the police response to Longenecker was appropriate.
"His behavior was despicable," Adams said. "They yelled to him; they asked him to surrender. He did not surrender."
Strokovsky says the family is calling for a more thorough investigation.
“There is no way Mr. Longenecker crawled underneath the back of the bulldozer,” the complaint reads.
Longenecker’s family also claims in the lawsuit that the game commission destroyed evidence, alleging that the brush area where Longenecker was killed was “wiped clean” after they requested it be preserved.
“The state police and the Pennsylvania Game Commission worker ran Greg over with a bulldozer, crushing and killing him, all over some pot plants," Strokovsky said.


https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-10-pot-plants-was-bulldozed-death-police-chase-his-n985161

 

[Hank Hemp]

Bastards!!

 

[rolandomota]

It's the guys fault for running if police chase you and you wreck and die who's fault is it? Yours of course Same thing here it's the guys fault for running he'd be out of jail by now sad story

 

[troutman]

I think it was overkill and stupid what they did. It's just 10 plants and not a Meth Lab.
Did they really need a bulldozer? Where was the helicopter and military?

Where was the narc dog? That's all they needed.

 

[GatorGumbo]

It's the guys fault for running if police chase you and you wreck and die who's fault is it? Yours of course Same thing here it's the guys fault for running he'd be out of jail by now sad story

Lol. Not the same at all. They ran him over for gardening, not murder or fleeing the scene of a deadly accident.

Also, you don't track somebody in thick brush with a bulldozer without getting accused of misjudgement.

 

[geneva_sativa]

I think it was overkill and stupid what they did. It's just 10 plants and not a Meth Lab.
Did they really need a bulldozer? Where was the helicopter and military?

Where was the narc dog? That's all they needed.

there was a helicopter,, from article

 

[troutman]

there was a helicopter,, from article

Apache?

 

[B rad]

Rolandomota is either a pig, snitch, or not familiar with Pennsylvania police.

 

[sshz]

The fact is the guy contributed to his death by running and then hiding. When you run from the police, courts don't take kindly to that. But using a bulldozer to chase someone thru the woods seems like poor judgement........

 

[princegoon]

land of the free

 

[Chris P Bacon]

Tragic waste of a life...

 

[therevverend]

Just one of the many risks of guerrilla cultivating..

And let's be clear, this was not a 'police chase'. With pedestrians, people driving home from work, etc. And he didn't see the lights and jump out of his car and run. This was a guy out in his patch who heard the chopper and took off into the woods. Helicopter can't follow him in the bush so they send in the bulldozer..

 

[mowood3479]

It's the guys fault for running if police chase you and you wreck and die who's fault is it? Yours of course Same thing here it's the guys fault for running he'd be out of jail by now sad story

It’s attitudes like this that help prop up the violence inherent in our system.
It’s not the guys fault. Running from the police doesn’t give them the right to kill you.
(In my humble opinion)

 

[EvergreenState]

Anyone, ANYONE, who states that the guy who got crushed by the bulldozer was at fault is an ABSOLUTE MORON!
The district attorney said the act of the guy running was a despicable act. Oh my God that is the most heartless statement I've ever read and a statement to cover up for his guys, the police officer and the game warden, their act of committing PREMEDITATED MURDER!
Hell running from the cops because you don't want your life fucked for growing a few plants, is a natural act; it is not a despicable act.
What is despicable is the reckless and idiotic decision of, putting the guy's life in danger, by sending in a bulldozer into the brush knowing the guy is hiding in there. They had to know there was a good chance the guy could get crushed and they didn't care. I'm sure they think he deserved his fate because he dared to run.
When law enforcement uses a total lack of common sense, idiotic judgment and recklessly endanger a person's life; they get called Nazis. When you commit premeditated murder ( And that is what this is because they knew the guy would be killed by running that dozer into the brush) then they are acting like Nazi's.
If they were so hellbent on enforcing their idiotic law, then common sense would be to get a dog to track him or wait him out because they knew where he was. It is just unbelievable to me that they decided to send a bulldozer into the brush. It is galactically stupid!
The cop and the game warden should be up on charges for premeditated murder and they should be sentenced to life imprisonment. They are both a terrible danger to the public. People that stupid and violent should be put away.

 

[therevverend]

The cop and the game warden should be up on charges for premeditated murder and they should be sentenced to life imprisonment.

I'd like to think that it was manslaughter, a death caused by their recklessness and neglect and not a planned homicide. The article says they destroyed the evidence making it impossible to determine whether it was planned. This makes it difficult to give them the benefit of the doubt.

This is an old article, from March last year, but it's stuck around. Probably because there's so many guerrilla growers or ex-guerrilla growers on this site. Plus the comment about the guy 'getting what he deserved'. Running from the cops is stupid, you're taking your life in your own hands and it's something you should never do. That doesn't give law enforcement the right to execute you, and in fact that is why running from the cops is stupid. There's a very high chance you'll get shot in the back, or run over by a bulldozer, or in the best case scenario, mauled by vicious animals of the canine and ape type.

I knew this old timer, he used to go to wrestling matches at the old hockey arena. He tried to trip Roddy Rowdy Piper one time, almost got his ass kicked, but that's a story for a different time. He used to teach a class with a lot of black kids. He'd always tell them no matter what, don't run from the cops. Because they'll shoot to kill. There was a way to sneak into the hockey arena, through the back where the wrestlers hung out. One time a cop saw him, yelled at him to stop and start to chase him. So of course like an idiot he took of running, eventually dispersed into the crowd. He was thinking about how stupid he was, and how ironic it would be if he got shot in the back..

 

[sshz]

No one said he was at totally at fault. But he definitely contributed to his killing by running away and hiding. He broke the law in that state, whether you agree or not is another matter. If he didn't take off and hide, he'd be alive today- possibly in jail, but alive.

And, anyone can sue anyone else- but the family will have no chance to win a dime in court. I grew up in PA, and know of a few similar cases (not necessarily leading to a death) and the jury always sided with the cops because of the reasons I already stated. Again, you may not agree with it- but the law does not look favorably on people who try to escape being arrested, while contributing to their own death by running and hiding from apprehension.

 

[therevverend]

you may not agree with it-

And you do?

 

[robotwithdreams]

Bootlickers doing what they do best...

 

[Gypsy Nirvana]

Flight - Fight - or Surrender? - those were the options the grower had - he chose flight - to escape but didn't have wings - so took to the ground - and the bastards came after him with a bulldozer - and either intentionally or accidentally ran him down - the poor man was killed - or was he murdered?


Looks to me like he just made the wrong choice -

 

[mexcurandero420]

Its a beautiful State, but crushing a person by a bulldozer because for growing 10 ganja plants is Middle Age.Its the same as someone quartering like they did in the Middle Ages.