Man Damages Four Washington Homes With Bulldozer

Sheriff’s deputies say a man angry at his neighbors went on a rampage in a bulldozer on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, damaging four homes, knocking one off its foundation, and cutting power to thousands of people.

Barry Alan Swegle was booked into the Clallam County Jail for investigation of malicious mischief following the incident Friday. A voice mail message left at a phone listing for the 51-year-old was not immediately returned.

Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Borte says investigators were told that Swegle and his neighbors had a long-running dispute, but it’s not clear over what. The rampage knocked over a utility pole and left a pickup truck destroyed, and the downed power lines were preventing authorities from fully evaluating the damage to the homes.

Keith Haynes lives near one of the damaged homes and told the Peninsula Daily News that the man “just went nuts.” Haynes said a woman inside one of the homes escaped unharmed.