Lt. Gov. Henderson’s brother, mom mildly injured by bull at Utah County Fair

SPANISH FORK, Utah — Two people were mildly injured Thursday night after a bull got loose at the Utah County Fair and chased them in the parking lot. They happened to be the mom and brother of Utah’s Lt. Governor, Deidre Henderson.

Last night’s rodeo at the @UtahCounty Fair turned ugly when a TX Longhorn got loose & went after my mom & bro in the parking lot. Despite being chased, knocked down & stepped on (bro’s foot) they miraculously escaped w/minor injuries. They’re pretty shaken (and I’m pretty pissed) https://t.co/KhqOv4Eize

— Deidre Henderson (@DeidreHenderson) August 4, 2023

Jeremy Hulse told KSL NewsRadio that as he and his mom were walking towards the stadium, the bull, who had gotten out of a gate, charged at them.

As they tried to get out of the way his mom fell. Hulse said he was trying to get her into a nearby truck when the bull made a beeline toward them.

“I thought we were done at that point,” he said.  “[The bull] was a big old … I think a Brahman.”

Hulse said his mom was able to get into the cab of the truck. He said he was hit by the bull’s bucking back end. He said he didn’t realize until later that the bull had stepped on his foot.

Hulse said the situation was scary, and he’s just grateful his young daughter and niece who were also at the Utah County Fair, weren’t walking with them.

“If we were a minute later … we would have had the girls with me … we would have been toast,” Hulse said.

How a bull got loose at the Utah County Fair

Utah County runs the fair, which is paid for by tourism tax dollars.  County Commissioner Amelia Powers said the bull got out purely by chance.

She said the bull hit the gate “in just a way that that gate opened,” and described the encounter as a rare “freak accident.” But she said it’s not completely unheard of either.

“We’ll definitely go through and check all the latches on all of the gates and see if there’s anything more that we could do,” she said. 

She said they’re grateful that no kids were around, and that this situation wasn’t worse, despite some swelling on Hulse’s foot and some scrapes for his elderly mother.  

Powers did not know what type of bull it was, but that it did not have big horns. “But then again, any bull is not one you want to come up against,” she said

Powers said the Lt. Gov. confirmed with her that Hulse and his mom left without reporting their injuries. Powers said the bull was contained after a few minutes, and they didn’t know anyone was injured until this morning, after the tweet by Lt. Gov. Henderson.

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