Five young men who got caught tossing burning items and other debris off a bridge onto Interstate 40 last fall are about to see their criminal charges dismissed.

The five went to court last week and their lawyers and the state’s prosecutor announced they had reached an agreement in the case. That agreement will see the case dismissed in June if the five pay for the damage they did and if they do not break any more laws by that time.

The five arrested in the case and charged with reckless endangerment are: Stephen M. Barlett, 19, of Cookeville; Sean C. McCann, 19, of Grimsley; James D. McCormick, 20, of Cookeville; Jordan D. Staup, 18, of Montery; and Jordan R. Gramling, 24, of Jamestown.

It was September 30, 2012, at about 5:30 in the morning when motorists traveling I-40 just east of Cookeville began calling authorities and reporting that someone was tossing items off an overpass bridge onto the highway below, hitting passing vehicles.

Putnam Sheriff’s Deputy Trevor Barrett and other officers rushed to the area and caught the culprits at the 295 overpass at Macedonia Cemetery Road.

“I could see several male subjects running from the area, and drove my patrol car in the middle of the crowd of suspects with my siren and blue lights and then jumped out of my car and started yelling loudly for everyone to stop and show me their hands,” the deputy said.

After other deputies arrived, the suspects were lined up, ordered not to move, and were patted down.

“On my way to the scene on the middle of the overpass I had seen a portable propane tank setting on the edge of the overpass on the concrete border,” the deputy’s report says. “On the opposite side, I saw a torch with a tank attached to it. There was wire that appeared to have been stripped, empty egg carton containers, a pizza box, a piece of burnt paper, paper magazines. I saw a red speaker wire type material coiled up and tied around the bridge on one end and the other end was sitting in a two liter plastic bottle in a liquid substance that appeared to be gasoline.”

Allegedly, some of the young men who were arrested told the officers they had planned to set fire to some items and toss them off the bridge onto the Interstate.

Sticks, burning items, and eggs had been thrown over onto the highway, but “there did not seem to be any type of actual explosive device on the scene,” the deputy’s report says.

The young men also admitted to shooting paint balls off over the bridge, aiming for vehicles passing below, the report says.

Three or four motorists who had been driving there contacted the Putnam Sheriff’s Department and filed complaints. The hood and the mirror on one vehicle had been damaged, and similar damage was reported by others.

In General Sessions Court last week, Assistant District Attorney Beth Willis announced that an agreement had been reached in the case which will provide for dismissing the charges if the young men pay their court fees and make restitution totaling $1,572 to the victims.

That settlement will be approved in court if the defendants have completed the requirements by June 19.