| By Big Radio News Staff |
A longtime Janesville City Hall gadfly faces trial over accusations he threw rocks at a Wisconsin Southern train engine and damaged the train.
Fifty-six-year-old Janesville resident Ty Bollerud is slated for a final pretrial hearing Jan. 7 and trial Jan. 27 over criminal damage charges that Bollerud threw a dozen rocks at a Wisconsin Southern train engine and swore at the train’s engineer.
The engineer says one of the rocks cracked a window on the engine, causing nearly $4,500 in damage.
Rock County Court documents say the incident was reported on February 4th near Rotamer Road and O’Hara Drive on the city’s far northeast side.
Bollerud frequently attends Janesville City Council meetings, and often speaks during public comment sessions. He often brings up railroad rights-of-way and railroad bridge safety issues.
Police say Bollerud never admitted throwing the rocks, although when police located him Bollerud was wearing clothing and had a bicycle parked against the side of his house that matched descriptions by the train engineer.
The train engineer says the railroad has had “problems” with Bollerud in the past. The engineer says they yelled at Bollerud to stop throwing rocks, and Bollerud responded by peppering the engineer with expletives.
An affidavit Bollerud filed in court claims Wisconsin Southern train operators bother “dozens” of people in his neighborhood by revving up their diesel train engines while they’re parked on tracks nearby.