Man rams car into IRS building

[Demosthenes]

Man upset over finances rams car into IRS building
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 CAROL ROBINSONNews staff writer

A man apparently distraught over finances rammed his car into the Internal Revenue Service building Tuesday morning.

The man, 48, who hasn't been formally charged with any crime, was taken to Cooper Green Mercy Hospital to be evaluated but did not appear to be injured, said Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Henry Irby.

The incident happened at 10:35 a.m. at the IRS building at 801 Tom Martin Drive. No one was seriously injured.

Authorities said the man and his wife were on the phone Tuesday morning talking with an IRS worker when he apparently made a threat.

The IRS employee called Birmingham police, who in turned called the Jefferson County sheriff's office after determining the man lived in Center Point, said sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Randy Christian.

Sheriff's deputies went to the man's home on 20th Avenue Northeast, but his wife told them he had left, driving a black SUV and that he was armed. She also gave authorities his cell phone number.

Authorities issued a lookout for the man.

A sheriff's dispatcher got the man on the phone, at which point he said he was going to kill himself.

The dispatcher tried to calm him down and asked where he was, but the man said not to worry about where he was.

He said he was going to drive himself off a cliff and then everybody would know his location, Christian said.

The dispatcher lost contact, and the man crashed into the IRS building a short time later.

His SUV's bumper breached two of the lower office windows. No IRS employees or visitors were in that part of the office at the time and there was only slight office damage, according to a release issued by the IRS. One employee was slightly injured when she was startled by the impact of the vehicle and reacted.

The building security guard responded immediately, followed by IRS Criminal Investigation special agents and a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration special agent who were in the building, according to the release.

The Taxpayer Assistance Center was closed after the incident, then reopened briefly before being closed for the rest of the day. The center is scheduled to reopen today at 8:30 a.m.

The incident is under investigation. Irby said the man could face state and federal charges.

[Famspear]

Well! I guess he showed them!

Seriously, something needs to be done, before this guy really does hurt somebody.

[Joey Smith]

Coincidence? http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hBkS ... QD92R7GOG0

[cynicalflyer]

Could be worse.
He could have tried to give the IRS an exorcism.

[Doktor Avalanche]

Could be worse.
He could have tried to give the IRS an exorcism.

That was tried on the Pentagon once. From what I understand, the building levitated ten feet into the air and glowed bright orange.

And then those hippies got their skulls cracked.

[Doktor Avalanche]

Could be worse.
He could have tried to give the IRS an exorcism.

That was tried on the Pentagon once. From what I understand, the building levitated ten feet into the air and glowed bright orange.

And then those hippies got their skulls cracked.

That's what I heard too, well almost. I heard nothing happened to the Pentagon.....although the hippies did get their skulls cracked.

I was watching some documentary on PBS about the 60s, and some hippy they dragged out of the weed patch said that the building levitated ten feet in the air and glowed orange.

I have a question: how come every time I've ever tried LSD I have never seen anything like that?

Can a brother drop some acid and watch a building levitate in the air while glowing orange one time?

[Doktor Avalanche]

Because you are an uptight white man, bent on keeping the proletariat down, because you are nothing more than the running dog lackey of the oppressive bourgesois, who are mere pawns of the evil militocracy dominated by the Illuminati, who want to immenentize the eschacton?

Oh yeah....and having a marvelous time of it, too.

[TheSaint]

The IRS employee called Birmingham police, who in turned called the Jefferson County sheriff's office

Maybe he meant to ram the county tax office:

Jefferson County has $4.6 billion in overall debt, including $3.2 billion in sewer bonds that have been floating to higher rates since turmoil erupted in the nation's credit markets in February. That has dramatically increased the county's interest expense and triggered a financial emergency that forced the county to delay a $53 million payment on some sewer bonds that was due April 1.

The county's plan to deal with its worst financial crisis must get the approval of both Wall Street bankers and state lawmakers, if a bankruptcy filing that dwarfs Orange County's infamous 1994 collapse is to be averted.

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/i ... xml&coll=2

[LOBO]

Jefferson County has $4.6 billion in overall debt, including $3.2 billion in sewer bonds that have been floating to higher rates since turmoil erupted in the nation's credit markets in February.

Maybe the sewer bonds were glowing orange.