Drive-By Bombing Via Lawn Mower
Wednesday, December 08, 2004

It was a definitely low-tech, low-speed attack, police say.

Steven W. Coleman, 37, allegedly threw two Molotov cocktails made from
Budweiser beer bottles, gasoline and rags at his ex-girlfriend's house Saturday
night, according to Foster's Daily Democrat newspaper of Dover, N.H.

Neither bomb exploded €” the rags never caught fire, a crucial part of making
a Molotov cocktail (search) work €” but the gas fumes stank up the street so
badly that two neighbors had to go the hospital.

Dover police quickly showed up to find Coleman calmly smoking a cigarette
nearby, a third beer bottle in his jacket pocket.

A police cruiser flipped on its lights €” and Coleman gunned the engine of his
riding lawn mower.

The leisurely chase wound over several streets of the New Hampshire town, until
a second cruiser blocked off the lawn mower's escape.

In addition to the third bottle €” the report didn't specify whether it held
gasoline or the original Budweiser (search) €” Coleman was found to be wearing
rubber gloves and carrying a book of matches.

Police booked him on charges of resisting arrest, reckless conduct and
disorderly conduct. He was also slapped with criminal trespass for violating an
order barring him from city-housing authority property.