Three people were busted in New York’s Holland Tunnel today after cops somehow couldn’t help but notice their pickup truck, decorated in a ludicrously charming “hillbilly teens playing Army” motif, was allegedly packed with loaded guns, combat equipment, body armor and drugs. Why? Rescue mission, obviously!
The New York Daily News reports that two men in their 50s and a woman in her 20s, described as “self-styled vigilantes”, were found with cache of weapons in their truck—weapons with, naturally, labels like “United We Stand” and “America.”
They were pulled over for a cracked windshield. It is also possible the rest of the truck raised police suspicions ever so slightly.
NBC New York reports during the stop police found “multiple loaded guns, knives and ballistic vests” and drugs. Authorities do not suspect a terrorism connection or continued threat to public safety, though.
The Daily News says police discovered that the trio from rural Pennsylvania was “en route to Queens to try to save a friend who is on heroin and being held against her will.” The trio is also said to be “heavy heroin users” themselves, the paper reported.
The police are supposedly now looking for that “friend” in Queens.
As for the truck, a distinctive second-generation Dodge Ram brodozer, you may notice it has a few “Higher Ground Tactical” stickers in addition to a few other generic “Tonka,” “Mopar,” and of course, the top of the U.S. Constitution. (Can you guess what their favorite part of that document is?)
Higher Ground Tactical appears to be a shooting range in Pennsylvania. No official connections have been made between the trio apprehended and the business, and there are no images of the truck on the company’s Facebook page. They do seem to be fond of the same Monster Energy green-and-red livery though.
As a possibly-related sidebar, The Morning Call reports that Higher Ground was recently under investigation for failing to meet workplace-safety regulations.
“OSHA said Higher Ground failed to use engineering or administrative controls where employees were exposed to excessive noise levels, implement a noise-monitoring program, conduct air monitoring for lead and establish a written lead compliance program, among other findings,” they wrote.
Regardless of whether or not the company actually owns this ridiculous toy solider truck, I can’t imagine this is the kind of attention that will help sort out its issues with OSHA.