It may have been freezing cold outside, but a New Hampshire state representative was boiling with rage after a snow plow driver blocked his driveway.
Jeffrey Greeson, 51, of Wentworth, was apoplectic and saw nothing but red on a day when the road beyond his driveway was blanketed with deep snow.
He was angered when Paul Manson trundled past on his snow plow to clear the roads for drivers and make them safer to use. Manson’s plow blocked the end of Greeson’s drive with snow, prompting an unseemly outburst.
In video footage shot by the driver from the Wentworth Highway Department, Greeson can be seen shaking his fists in a cartoonish manner as he let off steam into the sub zero air.
‘Now, get in your truck and do your job! And you don’t put it in my driveway!’ Greeson yelled. ‘Push it over there, out of the road, over there!’ he said referring to a pile of snow the driver had been dealing with.
Criminal charges have been brought against New Hampshire state rep. Jeffrey Greeson, after he was caught on video verbally abusing a plow driver
The incident occurred last Saturday when Greeson, could be seen angrily stomping around in a loud and aggressive tirade, and confronted plow driver, Paul Manson, who was clearing snow
‘It is mind-blowing to me. It took me a few days to actually settle down and figure out exactly what had happened,’ Manson said on Friday. ‘I was trying to do my job. I was mortified and just having somebody treat somebody like that.’
Greeson was arrested by state police on Friday and charged with disorderly conduct, criminal threatening, and simple assault
The tirade appear to last for several minutes as he seemed to follow the plow driver around his driveway, angrily stomping through several feet of snow as he barked instructions while shouting and swearing as to where he should place the snow.
‘Here´s where my driveway ends, right here. Push it out of the road!’ shouted Greeson, who also used rude hand gestures and expletives.
‘Your job is to clear the road. Clear the road! Now, get in your truck and do your job!’
The storm dropped nearly a foot of snow before winding down later in the day.
At one point Greeson seemed to lose his balance with the thick snow making it hard for him to chase after Manson. He then appeared to lose all perspective and stood directly in front of the snow plow, refusing to move and attempted to block Manson from filming him.
Greeson, a retired Navy officer and pastor serving his second term in the House was arrested by state police on Friday and charged with disorderly conduct, criminal threatening, and simple assault.
It appeared he was still seething with rage after he was confronted by reporters asking for a comment on his hot-headed actions.
On Thursday, Greeson, wearing a blue tie emblazoned with white doves was still stomping around, but perhaps uncharacteristically decided to freeze the press out, refusing to make any comments on camera about his icy rant.
Greeson went up to the snow plow driver and began yelling at him to move the snow from blocking his driveway
Greeson, wearing a blue tie emblazoned with white doves refused to make any comments on camera about his icy rant
Greeson was seen stomping around on Thursday but had no comment on the incident
Greeson issued a written statement acknowledging the incident and claimed that he had apologized to Manson and that the two had moved on from it.
‘I apologized to the man. He accepted my apology. That was several days ago, and we have both moved on,’ Greeson wrote.
Manson said he had already been plowing for about six hours on Saturday when he encountered Greeson standing in the middle of the road at around 8am.
‘He just started giving me hell, and I didn´t know what was going on,’ he said on Thursday. ‘When I got out of the truck, he started screaming in my face. So I got back in the truck and got my phone.
‘He was upset because I wasn’t pushing the snow off the road far enough, and I was putting it all in his driveway, which I’m going to be honest with you, that’s what I do,’ Manson said.
‘My job is to get the snow off the road. And I feel bad most of the time because I do put snow back in people’s driveway, and I really can’t help it.’
Manson said he realizes it’s no fun to shovel out after a snowplow passes but said public servants don’t deserve to be attacked.
‘I get to go home when I´m done with my 15-, 16-, 18-hour shifts and do the same thing,’ Manson said.
Manson first reported the incident to the State Police on the day it happened, expressed his relief and happiness upon hearing about Greeson’s arrest, stating that the representative should be held accountable for his actions just like any other citizen.
Driver, Manson, pictured, who first reported the incident to the State Police on the day it happened, expressed his relief and happiness upon hearing about Greeson’s arrest, stating that the representative should be held accountable for his actions just like any other citizen
‘It is mind-blowing to me. It took me a few days to actually settle down and figure out exactly what had happened,’ Manson said on Friday to WMUR. ‘I was trying to do my job. I was mortified and just having somebody treat somebody like that.’
Democratic House Matt Leader Wilhelm released a statement in which he referred to the charges against Greeson as ‘serious and deeply troubling’.
‘The relationship between an elected official and their constituents is a sacred trust. I hope Rep. Greeson will do some soul-searching over the weekend as he considers next steps for himself and the community he serves,’ Wilhelm wrote.
Greeson was released on personal recognizance and was ordered back to Plymouth District Court in May to answer to the charges against him by which time the snow will have melted away and hopefully cooler heads will prevail.
