A federal jury has convicted a 67-year-old pilot from Oregon for assaulting a federal employee after he shoved a flagger in Yellowstone National Park backward with his Jeep during a construction delay, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Wyoming reports.
David Tyler Regnier, 67 of Bend, Oregon, was found guilty of the felony charge Wednesday after a three-day jury trial in Cheyenne’s U.S. District Court.
The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.
A Thursday press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Wyoming says two Yellowstone employees were directing traffic near Canyon Junction amid road construction Aug. 18, 2024. They noticed a Jeep approaching the intersection, driving the wrong way to bypass waiting traffic, with a man later identified as Regnier at the wheel, the statement says.
“He expressed his displeasure at how traffic was being directed through the construction zone,” the prosecutor’s office wrote. “One employee told Regnier that he could not proceed and needed to back up. The other employee stood in the way of the jeep with a stop sign.”
Regnier accelerated, driving into the employee and shoving him backwards. The employee jumped out of the way after the Jeep hit him, the statement says.
Yellowstone National Park Service officers later stopped him and arrested him.
“Our office will take a strong stance against the frequent acts of violence directed at public servants who are merely doing their jobs to protect the community,” Wyoming’s Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie I. Sprecher said in the statement.
Regnier’s sentencing is set for Aug. 7.
His attorney Ryan Wright did not immediately respond Thursday to a late-day voicemail request for comment.
Medical Issue
Wright had argued during the case that Regnier was suffering from an urgent medical issue when he skipped the construction line.
Authorities initially charged Regnier with misdemeanors, but those were eventually dismissed.
Two months later in November 2024, a grand jury charged Regnier with one count of assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, referring to Regnier’s Jeep.
Wright’s version of these events, given in an April court filing, says Regnier tried to turn left when the flaggers confronted him, and one flagger whom court documents identify as J.W. “jumped in front of Mr. Regnier’s moving Jeep, attempting to stop the Jeep with his bare hands.”
The supervising flagger told Regnier to get back in line.
Regnier said he needed badly to go to the bathroom, wrote Wright, adding that the supervisor “would not listen.”
J.W. refused to move and tried stopping the Jeep with his bare hands and body, the attorney’s filing continues. It says J.W. eventually moved to the side of the Jeep and hit it with his stop/slow sign as Regnier drove away.
J.W. wasn’t injured, the filing says.
Wright quoted body camera video from the scene.
“Do you think this is something that I can sue the guy for and maybe get some money?” J.W. asked another person, according to the filing. “What if I say I was too scared to flag ever again. Play the system. You know.”
The Aftermath
Wright’s filing says Regnier changed his blood pressure medication about a week earlier at the request of the Federal Aviation Administration, to maintain his pilot’s license. On the date of the incident, Regnier had suffered medical issues throughout the day, wasn’t feeling well, and had elevated blood pressure, wrote Wright.
Law enforcement personnel took Regnier to the hospital later, believing he could be suffering cardiac arrest, the filing says, adding that he was released from the hospital late that day.
“Mr. Regnier was very remorseful and planned to plead guilty to all four federal misdemeanors,” wrote Wright.
But the government dismissed those charges that same day, court documents say.
The government took the case to a grand jury, which charged Regnier on Nov. 20, 2024, with the felony.
Federal authorities arrested Regnier in his home state of Oregon on Feb. 13, and he was released Feb. 19, court documents say.
An FAA registry says Regnier has been licensed as a private pilot since 2010.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
