Recent incidents reported by the Summit County Sheriff’s Office included a scuffle between customers at a local grocery, sparked by some racial insults. But there were some unexpected twists in the story.
Sheriff’s Lt. Andrew Wright said that on Feb. 25th, deputies responded to a reported fight at the Pinebrook Fresh Market shortly after 8 a.m.
A man was talking to his daughter and when a women customer walked between them, he became angered. The situation escalated when the man called her the “N” word and other racial slurs.
But according to the report, said Lt. Wright, the woman was white, a 29-year-old Jeremy Ranch resident. The male was a 46-year-old Asian resident of Salt Lake City.
The two customers pushed and slapped each other until a third party broke up the altercation. Another customer who heard the fracas shot video of the incident, which was passed on to the store and to Sheriff deputies.
Lt. Wright said both parties told the same story about the conflict. They were issued citations and released.
On another occasion, a woman was stopped Feb. 26th for speeding on the Rasmussen Frontage Road near Kimball Junction. A check showed there was an active warrant for her arrest out of the Justice Court in North Salt Lake. However, she was not taken into custody because she was pregnant.
Lt. Wright said this was one of those occasions when a deputy uses some discretion and common sense.
“Our deputy’s using some common sense, a little bit of compassion for someone that might be in a situation—and also not taking on the liability of someone with potential medical issues that could—for example, if a pregnant woman were to be handcuffed, transported to jail, the stresses that could take place. And we don’t want to interfere with the pregnancy of a woman.”
The record check showed that the driver, a 27-year-old woman from Farmington, had a warrant on a traffic-lane violation. The officer saw to it that the woman got to her place of employment at Kimball Junction. He told her to take care of the warrant, and reminded her that under the warrant, her driver’s license was suspended.
Finally, deputies got a report on Feb. 26th that trespassers were creating an improvised ski hill behind a shop at the Park City Outlet Mall.
The report said six young males were skiing down the hill behind the Polo store. They created a ramp by stacking some salt bags used by the Mall, and shoveled snow on top. Lt. Wright said they were filming videos as they sailed up the ramp, actually caught some air, and bounced their skiis off the back wall of the building near the roof.
The management asked them several times to leave, since they created a liability problem and interfered with freight traffic on the back lane behind the Mall.
When they refused, deputies were called and they then left the property peacefully. The intruders ranged in age from 19 to 25, and their residences include Park City, Salt Lake and one from Vermont.
