Utah man who fired at police pleads guilty to disarming an officer
May 25, 2024, 6:00 PM | Updated: 7:56 pm
A Utah man currently in prison has pleaded guilty to disarming a police officer. He grabbed the gun as part of a fight after a traffic accident, and fired it toward a second officer before he was shot four times. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
(Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
WEST JORDAN — A Utah man has pleaded guilty to grabbing a police officer’s gun as part of a plea deal in which charges for firing at an officer with that gun were dismissed.
Eric Wyatt Pectol, 53, said in his plea deal statement he was in a traffic accident on Sept. 17, 2020, and when an officer found him in a nearby field, he told the officer he had a gun. He further states he did not have a gun, but when the officer’s gun fell. Petcol grabbed it from the ground.
Petcol was riding a motorcycle at the time of the crash, and collided with a truck. The responding officer realized the man did not have a gun, and deployed his Taser while Petcol was running toward him, but it had no effect. Petcol and the officer then got into a physical fight, and the officer pulled out his gun but dropped it during the struggle, after losing his footing, court documents state.
A second officer reported seeing Petcol pick up the gun and point it at the first officer and then point it at that second officer. Officer John Saulnier said he “saw the muzzle flash and heard the snap of the bullet coming by him,” after Petcol fired toward him and missed.
Read the full story and more from Emily Ashcraft on KSL.com.
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