Police sued over bulldozer death of pot suspect

By: MIchael Rubinkam, Associated Press

Pennsylvania State Police acted recklessly when troopers used a bulldozer to pursue a Grateful Dead fan caught growing marijuana on public land, killing him when he wound up under the machine’s treads, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed Monday.

Greg Longenecker’s family said state police had no business chasing him with a dangerous piece of machinery — especially over a few pot plants the 51-year-old was cultivating for personal use. His death last July, in a rural area about 75 miles (121 kilometers) outside of Philadelphia, also provoked outrage from a marijuana advocacy group.

“They killed a beautiful human being, a caring, loving man,” Longenecker’s uncle, Mike Carpenter, who’s named as a plaintiff in the federal suit, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “He’ll never be able to share his life with us, or us with him, again. For no reason. He wasn’t hurting anyone.”

Full story: https://www.tnonline.com/police-sued-over-bulldozer-death-pot-suspect