In recent weeks, Summit County Sheriff deputies kept busy with a variety of cases. Officers talked down a suicidal North Summit man; they responded to the burglary of a Kamas City office; and heard again about campaign signs stolen in Wanship.
Sheriff’s Lt. Andrew Wright reported that on Tuesday morning, the 22nd, shortly before 8 a.m. they got a call that a 46-year-old Coalville man, under the influence of drugs, had left his house on foot and armed with a handgun. According to his family, he had said he wanted to end his life or commit suicide by cop.
Deputies looking for the suspect found him near a section of the Rail/Trail, at the north end of Coalville by the city’s old sewer plant. The man was hiding by a bridge and holding the gun to his head.
Deputies talked to the man for nearly an hour and convinced him to put the gun down. By about 9:30, said Lt. Wright, he was taken by ambulance and transported to a medical facility for an involuntary commitment.
Lt. Wright said all their officers go through a weeklong training in crisis intervention.
“You learn what all the different mental illnesses there are, and how to talk to people who are suffering from mental illness or having a mental-health crisis. Additionally, we have deputies that have additional training on how to negotiate with people, whether they’re a hostage-taker, they’re barricaded, or in this instance, was threatening to harm himself or suicide by cop.”
The Lieutenant said the incident had the “best outcome possible.”
On the same morning, officers responded to a single-vehicle accident on Brown’s Canyon Road. At about 5:30 a.m., a caller reported that a driver was found in a vehicle that had left the roadway and rolled several times.
It appeared the pickup was heading eastbound, the driver over-corrected for some reason, and the truck took out about 100 feet of fence in the crash. The driver, identified as a 26-year-old Park City man, was taken by helicopter to a Salt Lake hospital. He had significant injuries to his head, back and pelvis, but they were not life-threatening.
In other cases, officers heard that a Wanship resident is still having trouble with campaign signs she’s displayed for Joe Biden. Karen Meachm reported on September 19th that seven signs have been stolen out of her front yard. She said she has no idea who is committing the thefts.
Finally, on Wednesday the 23rd, deputies got a call from the Kamas Health Department, located off Highway 248, that a narcotics drawer in their building had been burglarized. The drugs stolen included Tylenol, Xanax, Demerol, Morphine and Diazepam.
Lt. Wright said the double-locked drawer was not labeled as narcotics storage. Pieces of the drawer were found on the ground, and it looked like wooden dowels were used to break in.
The building has no video surveillance, inside or out, but detectives were able to find fingerprints.
