SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Feb. 11, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — An Emery County driver is facing multiple charges after he allegedly tried to hit vehicles including a patrol car, mooned other drivers and flipped off a police officer.
A probable cause statement from the 7th District Court in Emery County said Dennis Duane Butler was arrested on Thursday, his 66th birthday. He is facing three charges of third-degree felony aggravated assault, third-degree felony failure to stop or respond at the command of police, second-degree felony assault against a peace officer/military with weapon or force, class B misdemeanor lewdness and class B misdemeanor theft.
Two separate callers reported an erratic driver in a silver passenger car on a dirt road just southwest of Moore, which is east of Gunnison Thursday afternoon. The road has just enough room for two vehicles to pass each other, the probable cause statement said.
“Upon arrival a witness told me the driver of the car had tried to hit three different trucks that were on the road,” the statement said. “Those vehicles had to swerve off the road to avoid being hit. While speaking with the witness, the silver vehicle came driving toward me so I activated my overhead lights to signal the driver to stop.”
The driver of the silver car, later identified as Butler, started flashing his lights and the officer tried to block the roadway with his vehicle.
“I picked the car up on my radar and it showed the vehicle traveling at 58 mph,” the statement said. “As the vehicle got closer it did not slow down and was going to hit me head on so I moved my vehicle almost all the way off the roadway to the right and the driver sped past me holding up a middle finger on one hand toward me (commonly known as flipping someone off).”
The officer then turned his car around and pursued the silver vehicle toward the town of Moore with his lights and siren activated. By this time, the driver of the silver car was travelling approximately 100 mph.
“The vehicle traveled to a residence in Moore and the male driver parked by a wooden shed and ran into the shed,” the statement said. “After several minutes of talking to the driver, I was able to peacefully place him under arrest and put him in my patrol car. During the conversation with the driver when he was in the shed he told me he did not care who I was and what I wanted and that’s why he wouldn’t stop for me. The man also acknowledged that he would have hit me head on if I had not moved.”
The witnesses wrote in a sworn statement that Butler tried to hit them and ran them off the roadway and at one point ripped a Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit sign that belongs to Castle Valley Outdoors off a post and stole it.
“They also said at one point that the man took his pants down and bent over showing his bare buttocks to them (commonly referred to as mooning someone),” the statement said.
Butler was transported to the Emery County Jail with his bail set at $31,360.
