PORT ANGELES — A man who went on a logging bulldozer rampage in Gales Addition two years ago today has been ordered to pay $734,566 in damages to neighbors he terrorized.
Barry A. Swegle, 53, did not attend the two-hour civil bench trial in Clallam County Superior Court on Monday that concluded with visiting Judge Keith Harper of Jefferson County ruling in favor of James and Barbara Porter and Daniel and Mary Davis.
The two couples filed their civil complaint for damages for trespass, wrongful conversion of real and personal property, assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress June 13, 2013.
They filed a little more than a month after a long-running property dispute between the Davises and Swegle ignited the May 10, 2013, swath of destruction Swegle inflicted with his bulldozer in the large subdivision in the unincorporated area east of the Port Angeles city limit.
The incident brought nationwide media attention to the North Olympic Peninsula, including a Sept. 27, 2013, episode of ABC’s “20/20” that focused on neighborhood disputes.
Harper awarded $670,137 to the Davises and $64,429 to the Porters.
Over the course of what the Davises and Barbara Porter said was a horrific 10 minutes, Davis rammed his Dresser TD-25 bulldozer into buildings, automobiles, a tractor, fencing, trees, a shed and machinery on North Baker Street, East Pioneer Road and East Ryan Drive.
He flattened the Davises’ 1-ton pickup truck, pushed the Davises’ home into the Porters’ home and outbuildings, and damaged another house the Davises own.
He also toppled a high-voltage Clallam County Public Utility District power pole, cutting power to thousands.
“It was amazing to see the destruction. It was pretty amazing,” county Undersheriff Ron Cameron said last week.
“I was surprised nobody had been hurt.”
At the time, damage to the neighborhood was estimated at more than $300,000.
Swegle, who was sentenced to 29 months in prison on multiple counts of malicious mischief, served six months and was released Dec. 19 after receiving credit for good behavior while in prison and credit for time served.
Swegle could not be reached for comment.
His mother, Helen, said last week her son does not have a telephone and that she does not know where he lives.
“Unless you see him, there’s no way of getting in touch with him,” she said.
She said Swegle now works with his brother, who lives in the family home adjacent to the Davises that Swegle occupied when he tore through his neighbors’ property.
She was incredulous at the monetary judgment.
“How could he come up with that much money when he doesn’t have it?” she asked.
Port Angeles attorney Lane Wolfley, who represented the Porters and Davises, said last week his clients will attempt to recover all they can of the judgment, including seizure of Swegle’s property.
Swegle had been represented initially by Port Angeles attorney Karen Unger, but she withdrew about two months ago, Wolfley said.
Swegle had no legal representation during the civil lawsuit trial, Wolfley said.
Swegle’s Gales Addition property is worth $40,500, according to the Clallam County Assessor’s Office.
“The first thing we’re going to seize is that bulldozer because it represents the means of destruction,” said Wolfley, who added that he does not know how much it is worth.
Wolfley said he felt good about the verdict because the Porters and the Davises had the opportunity to express themselves in court about what happened to them.
Harper, in awarding the judgment, also said testimony at the trial showed that Swegle’s actions left scars.
“All these people described how they’ve been living with this,” he said.
“They can’t get it out of their mind.
“It’s totally turned their life upside-down.”
Barbara Porter was standing at her kitchen window and watched Swegle commandeer the bulldozer 4 feet from where the Davises’ home rumbled into hers.
“I thought I was going to die,” she recalled. “I have a lot of dreams about Barry Swegle. Anytime anyone’s equipment starts up, I get sick.
“I wake up in the night because Barry used to always wake me up in the night starting up his equipment, digging around his house.”
Dan Davis, whose fence was the focus of Swegle’s ire and which was Swegle’s first target, said he had been planning to get a restraining order against Swegle the day of the incident.
“He wanted to destroy every single thing he could,” Davis testified, including the Davises’ septic tank.
While Swegle took aim at buildings and vehicles, Davis called his wife, who was napping on a loveseat in their home.
“He told me to get out of the house, now,” testified Mary Davis, who turns 77 in July.
She kept hearing a vibration, “like an earthquake,” she said.
She grabbed her dog, who was frantically barking, and headed for the back door.
A neighbor ran into the house for her, and the two ran out.
Mary Davis watched as Swegle continued to destroy everything in his path.
“He went through the bedroom, where I might have normally been taking a nap,” she said.
“It was horror, it was a nightmare; it was something that couldn’t be real.
“It’s something that doesn’t leave you,” she said.
“I’m scared to go anyplace at night, and I park under the light if I go to Safeway.
“I don’t hate him, because it’s a waste of emotion,” she added.
“I do live in fear of him.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
