Thomas Piatek, the Indiana man accused of taking part in a violent militia’s plot to kill police officers, has a history of aiming for cops.
On May 14, 1990 Piatek, a truck driver, was arrested for taking his semi trailer across the raised median in the 18100 block of Halsted Street in Homewood and driving head-on into a state trooper, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The trooper swerved to avoid the wrong-way truck, then pulled a u-turn and went in for the arrest.
"I thought you were one of those (expletives) with the bright lights on all the time," Piatek allegedly told the Homewood office.
Piatek pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to one year of supervision.
Now Piatek and eight Hutaree co-defendants are charged in Detroit federal court with conspiring seditiously and attempting to use weapons of mass destruction.
Federal officials seized nearly four dozen high-powered guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition from the Hammond, Ind., home of the man.
Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry denied bond for 46-year-old Piatek during a three-hour hearing on last week and ordered him to remain in the custody of U.S. Marshals.
