WASHINGTON — A dump truck driver who intentionally rammed his truck into two marked police cruisers has been arrested by Prince George’s County Police and charged with attempted murder of two police officers.
The suspect is 31-year-old Gene Thomas Brandon, Jr. of the 19000 block of Aquasco Road in Aquasco, Maryland. The attack on the officers was captured on surveillance video as they stood outside their cruisers.
“It’s by God’s grace that these two officers weren’t killed,” said Prince George’s County Police Chief Mark Magaw at an afternoon news conference. “Seconds before that dump truck hits the first cruiser, those officers barely make it out from between those two cars.”
Magaw says the dump truck driver has a history of mental illness, and he told investigators that he had not taken his prescribed medication.
The Chief says the driver was angry with the two officers because he believed they were responsible for something that didn’t even happen.
“This individual was under the delusion that his brother had been shot in Washington, D.C.,” Magaw said.
The incident happened Wednesday around 11:35 a.m. in a parking lot of Woodmore Towne Centre in Glenarden, Maryland.
Brandon pulled up his dump truck next to the officers and yelled at them from his open window. The officers ordered him to keep moving as he was blocking traffic. Brandon then drove off and turned around in the parking lot. But seconds later, the officers saw the dump truck barreling directly toward them, according to a statement by Prince George’s County Police Department.
The officers ran out of the truck’s path. Brandon slammed his truck into the back of one of the cruisers, causing it to plow into the second one. The dump truck came to a final rest on top of one of the cruisers after pushing it more than 50 feet. Brandon then jumped out of his truck and aggressively approached the officers. The officers were able to take Brandon into custody without injury to the officers or the suspect.
The officers weren’t injured.
Brandon is charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of first degree assault. He’s in custody at the Department of Corrections being held without bond.
WTOP’s Michelle Basch contributed to this report. Follow @WTOP on Twitter and on the WTOP Facebook page.
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