Complex sentence: Word spread that the Americans had trampled on the Panamanian flag, and angry crowds then tried to storm into the Zone, and the acting American Governor, U.S. Army Colonel David Parker, requested tanks to move in to defend the U.S. territory.
Split into simpler sentences: Word spread that the Americans had trampled on the Panamanian flag, and angry crowds then tried to storm into the Zone. The situation escalated when the American governor, U.S. Army Colonel David Parker, called for armored cars to move in to defend the U.S. territory.