Angry at the road work, driver plowed through cones and struck worker, deputies say

A man upset that a crew was removing painted stop lines from a county road drove through safety cones and into one of the workers, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

The 44-year-old driver noticed the work area at 196th Street Court East and 91st Avenue East about 9:20 a.m. Wednesday.

He allegedly drove his car through the cones and into one of the workers, who tried to get out the way of the vehicle, sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.

The car kept “pushing against” the worker, who was not seriously injured, Troyer said.

Deputies arrested the man, who said “he was mad about them removing the stop bars because the residents paid a lot of money for them to get painted,” Troyer said.

Stop bars are solid white lines painted across all lanes in one direction to tell drivers where to stop.

Officials pointed out the road is a county thoroughfare and not a private road.

This story was originally published July 26, 2018 at 1:43 PM.