Caught on tape: Man drives car into Burke courthouse

BURKE COUNTY, N.C. -- A driver crashes his car into the Burke County Courthouse, and it's caught on security camera video from several angles.

After the initial crash, the car goes to the lobby and stops like it's a vehicle on a showroom floor.

You'd think the driver would run away. Instead, he just hangs out.

"Why would you stay here? That's my thing," said neighbor Jennie Prince, while heading into the courthouse Friday.

Neighbors and deputies wonder if this was an accident or on purpose. The car drove through the only spot that didn't have a concrete barrier. After crashing into the courthouse, the driver lights a cigarette, locks his doors and walks away like it's no big deal.

He walks out the way he came in, then walks by the front door, again, in no hurry.

"He had to make a curve to turn that way to get ... hit that. That's why it had to be deliberate," said neighbor Barbara Grimm, while heading into the courthouse.

The video shows the car making a turn off the grass and onto the sidewalk.

"Maybe they were trying to get back at somebody, who knows?" Prince said.

The driver is Herbert Bristol.

Records show he was convicted of DWI in Burke County five years ago, and he's due in the same courthouse later this month on a new DWI charge.

Bristol turned himself in Friday afternoon.

For now, police haven't released a motive and they haven't said if Bristol was drunk or sober when he drove into the courthouse.

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