LOGAN, Utah, March 13, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A Smithfield man who was arrested and jailed in June 2018 for throwing sulfuric acid onto two young neighbor boys, was sentenced to prison Tuesday.
Jason Keith Summers, 32, was ordered to serve up to 15 years after pleading guilty in January 2019 to two charges of child abuse — inflicting serious physical injury intentionally, a second-degree felony.
Charges dismissed without prejudice were:
- Obstructing justice, a third-degree felony
- Escape from official custody, a third-degree felony
- Interference with an arresting officer, and criminal trespass, both class B misdemeanors
- Disorderly conduct, an infraction
Summers was arrested on June 15 last year after Smithfield City Police responded to a call of children in distress. Officers arrived at the scene, near 100 West and 400 North, and found the two boys, about 4 and 5 years old, with significant burns.
According to a probable cause statement, when officers arrived, Summers covered his eyes with sunglasses despite being in the shade, and asked if he could leave while the baby was being attended to.
An officer reviewing a recording of how the children had been injured reportedly observed that Summers had walked off his property toward the children and had thrown a chemically burning substance at them.
After viewing that evidence, police ordered Summers to turn around and put his hands behind his back, but instead he turned and ran into his home.
“Officers followed him in and controlled him to the ground where he was handcuffed,” the probable cause statement said.
“He stated he didn’t ‘want to go’ and be investigated ‘again.’ Jason was read Miranda rights. He invoked the right to an attorney but later decided to speak with officers. Jason had medical attend to him because he was stating he was in pain. While being loaded into the ambulance Jason began yelling ‘Sorry’ to his family.”
Asked multiple times what substance he had thrown on the children, Summers said it was dirt, the probable cause statement said. Later, it was determined to be sulfuric acid.
According to reports, both children suffered significant burns, with the younger child more seriously injured.
Summers told medical personnel he had used controlled substances and stated he was nauseous, first when being transported to the hospital, then when being taken to jail.
When officers rolled down a window 8 to 10 inches, Summers was able to squeeze out the window and flee into traffic. Officers regained control of Summers at the side of the road and returned him to the hospital to be treated for road rash. Later, Summers was booked into jail.
While serving a search warrant at Summers’ residence, officers found evidence of a crystalline home cleaner, like that used for drains, which appeared visually similar to what was used in the attack, police said.
