Man held for almost plowing down cops with tractor

A man in Hasselt was arrested and charged with attempted manslaughter Wednesday afternoon, after he tried to run over police officers with his tractor.

The 43-year-old man was initially stopped by police officers on Burgemeester Malcorpslaan for partaking in traffic with the tractor with a hay-tedder that had dangerous spikes for lifting and shaking hay protruding in front; the officers meant to give him a fine, but as he could not produce a driver's license or ID papers, they told him to return home, collect those documents and meet them at the police station. But instead of going home though the man continued driving in the opposite direction, toward Lichtmis. As police officers in pursued, the man ignored their calls for him to pull over and rammed a police motorbike. One of the officers felt so threatened by the tractor and its dangerous spikes that he pulled out his firearm. The farmer was eventually arrested at his house and taken to the police station, where the officers filed charges against him.