Usually, the EPA isn’t the kind of agency that shoots it out with polluters, but there’s always that first time. Consider the owner of a truck-wash company in Utah who told friends he’d “go down in a blaze of glory” before facing federal charges of illegally disposing of hazardous chemicals. Larkin Baggett, 54, wasn’t kidding; when EPA officials caught up with him in Florida this spring, Baggett pointed a semi-automatic rifle at one of the agents. Yet Baggett never got off a shot, says the Miami Herald: “Officers shot him in the face and buttocks and riddled his travel trailer with bullets.” It was the EPA’s first officer-involved shooting since the agency instituted a criminal enforcement division in 1982. Last month, Baggett pleaded guilty to felonies including possession of illegal weapons; he faces a possible 90-year stint in prison.
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