Girlfriend believes Lincoln man’s skid loader rampage caused by sleep deprivation and prescription meds

By Andrew Ozaki

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    LINCOLN, Nebraska (KETV) — The girlfriend of the man accused of going on a rampage with a skid loader in south Lincoln Sunday afternoon believes his bizarre behavior was caused by sleep deprivation and prescription medications.

Lincoln police arrested Samuel Peyrot, 36, for second-degree assault, second-degree assault on an officer, and criminal mischief.

In a telephone interview with KETV NewsWatch 7, his girlfriend Kelly Effle said that she believes Peyrot was delusional at the time, caused by a combination of his prescription drugs and four days of no sleep due to his job removing snow as a contractor.

Effle said she is still in disbelief that her boyfriend, also the father of her 6-month-old son, is the suspect in videos that have gone viral on social media.

She said early Sunday morning, she became very concerned when Peyrot began acting strangely and talking incoherently.

She called 911 around 1 a.m. Police responded and took Peyrot to a Lincoln hospital.

She said he was treated with a saline solution IV and sent home three hours later.

Effle doesn’t know why Peyrot wasn’t kept in the hospital longer.

“He would never have done these things,” Effle said.

Meanwhile, KETV NewsWatch 7 is also getting a better picture of Peyrot’s path of destruction that started at the U-Stop Convenience Store near 73rd Street and Pine Lake Road.

“He parked out here after driving the vehicle around a couple of times and unloaded his skid loader out here,” said U-Stop manager Dan Franzen.

Lincoln police said the skid loader belongs to his employer.

Franzen said Peyrot damaged one truck and a donation box there.

He then allegedly crashed into several vehicles at a nearby Taco Bell.

Hunter Gulliotte posted video of the damage on his cellphone on social media.

“For why, I have no idea. He just looked at us and laughed at us,” Gulliotte said on the post.

Video taken by Bailey Coulter shows Peyrot allegedly damaging an apartment complex sign. Then chasing a truck down a road.

Later, he pulls into the Home Depot lot, allegedly damaging an ATM at a bank and then crashes into the front door of the Still Liquor Store.

Two concrete posts blocked his way.

“We’re thankful for those because, uh, would have made quite a mess if he could have actually made it into the building,” co-owner and managing partner Aron Wiest said.

He damaged some landscaping at the Still and then several vehicles in the Home Depot parking lot, including a police cruiser.

“It’s just a wild experience,” Travis Holm said.

He was pulling into the parking lot and saw the skid loader ram into the cruiser.

“I was scared for the cop because the surface was slick. And so it doesn’t take much of a movement on the skid steer for something bad to go wrong,” Holm said.

He said the officer got out and drew his gun and the suspect gave up.

“No shots fired. I thought the cop the other officers responded pretty quickly and I thought they did a great job,” Holm said.

“Anytime nobody gets hurt in a situation like that, the best possible outcomes,” Holm said.

Peyrot’s girlfriend is also grateful the officer did not shoot him and that no one was seriously hurt.

She said does not believe he acted maliciously or was angry.

She said he was not drunk nor high and that he probably didn’t know what he was doing.

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