WESTBOROUGH, Mass. — A Verizon replacement worker is facing charges after allegedly driving with a picketer on top of his vehicle.
Police said that officers were assisting as replacement workers drove through a picket line of about 80 people Thursday in Westborough.
“As we were getting him through the line he panicked stepped on the gas and accelerated very rapidly and one of the picketers ended up on the hood of the vehicle,” Westborough Police Chief Al Gordon said.
George Pulling, 55 of Naples, Florida, was in one of the vehicles being escorted down the line. The picketers were yelling and screaming at Pulling, police said, which is when he accelerated and ended up with one of the picketers on the hood of his truck. He allegedly kept driving onto a ramp that leads to Rte. 9 west. He finally stopped, causing the picketer, 47-year-old Joseph Rooney, to be tossed onto the road.
“They have someone coming in here who has three drunk driving convictions and driving drunk without a license and he gets another one while hitting someone who's out here legally trying to protect his job,” one of the striking workers said.
Pulling was arrested for two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, his fourth OUI offense, and operating a motor vehicle without a license.
His license was suspended in Florida.
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