Yellowstone visitor assaults national park staff, faces 20 years

David Regnier, 67, was pulled over at a construction zone inside Yellowstone National Park.

May 27, 2025 - 17:24

Yellowstone visitor assaults national park staff, faces 20 years

Attracting approximately four million visitors on a given year, Yellowstone National Park — spanning Wyoming and small stretches of Montana and Idaho — sees both visitors who have a wonderful time and those who run into trouble by not respecting the rules around human-wildlife interaction and general park behavior.

At the end of 2024, 62-year-old Colorado Springs resident Joseph Aita was sentenced to seven days in a Wyoming jail after crossing over into a protected area of Mammoth Hot Springs with his wife and kids.

Three months later in March, 44-year-old Angela Flaherty received a similar sentence for walking onto the cone of the park's signature Old Faithful Geyser. In May, a 47-year-old man from Florida's Cape Coral became the first to get injured by the park's bison in 2025 after coming closer than the recommended 25 yards to one.

While the injuries sustained were minor, park authorities regularly draw attention to the importance of keeping proper distance.

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'A jeep approaching the intersection and driving the wrong way'

On May 21, 67-year-old Oregon resident David Tyler Regnier was convicted of assaulting a federal employee with a dangerous weapon by intentionally driving his car into a National Park Service (NPS) worker in September 2024.

"Two Yellowstone National Park employees were directing traffic near Canyon Junction where road construction was underway," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Wyoming said in a press release. "They noticed a jeep approaching the intersection and driving the wrong way down the road to bypass waiting traffic. Mr. Regnier was driving the jeep. He expressed his displeasure at how traffic was being directed through the construction zone."

After one of the employees working in the construction area told Regnier to back up, he accelerated his vehicle and drove it into another worker who was blocking his way with a stop sign.

The employee jumped out of the way and was able to avoid injury, while Regnier was arrested by police who were called to the scene. After a three-day trial in Wyoming's federal court, Regnier was found guilty of assault with a dangerous weapon.

A law enforcement investigation found that Reignier had grown increasingly belligerent over being told where to drive and rammed the vehicle in response. He had been backed up for more than 45 minutes and told several construction workers that he needed to use the bathroom (a judge denied the motion to dismiss the case on this basis on May 14.)

Yellowstone is particularly popular during the bison mating period.
Image source: Shutterstock

'Public servants who are merely doing their jobs'

Regnier's sentencing has been set for Aug. 7; he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

He was initially charged with three misdemeanors like failure to comply with a traffic control device, but those charges were later changed to a federal felony of assault with a dangerous weapon (in his case, the vehicle itself.)

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"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," Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie I. Sprecher said in a statement on the court ruling.