Former Murray Mayor Dan Snarr charged with spitting on motorist during road-rage incident

Former Murray Mayor Dan Snarr. Photo: Intermountain Medical Center/YouTube

MURRAY, Utah, Jan. 28, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Former Murray Mayor Dan Snarr has been charged with spitting on another motorist during a road-rage incident in September.

Snarr, who served as Murray’s mayor from 1998 to 2014, was charged Thursday in 3rd District Court with propelling a bodily substance contacting the face, a class A misdemeanor.

Snarr told Gephardt Daily he intends to plead not guilty, saying he coughed at another driver who repeatedly yelled “f—ing Democrat” while flipping him off during a confrontation in Murray on Sept. 11, 2022.

Police say the altercation between motorists began when a vehicle driven by Snarr cut off another vehicle while leaving a gas station near 5300 South and 600 West. The driver then “flipped his middle finger” at Snarr, according to a probable cause statement from the Unified Police Department officer who investigated the incident.

Snarr says the confrontation began in the gas station parking lot, when the man got into his vehicle, flipped him off and yelled, “You f-ing Democrats! I hate you f-ing Democrats!”

“He was so aggressive,” he told Gephardt Daily, “and the look on his face was so glaring and mean, I felt like, ‘This guy’s wacko. I need to hit his license plate.'”

The driver told police Snarr followed him to the area of 800 W. Applegate Drive and began honking his horn, charges state. After both men stopped their cars, Snarr exited his vehicle and approached the driver’s side of the other vehicle, police said.

Charging documents say Snarr and the man argued through the driver’s side window, and Snarr tried to get the man to exit his vehicle, at one point putting his arm inside the car window.

“As [the driver] attempted to roll his window up, [Snarr] spit in [his] face,” charges state. “Some of [Snarr’s] spit hit the car window, and the rest landed [his] face and on the glasses that he was wearing,” according to the charges.

Snarr says the man continued to call him a “f-ing Democrat” during their verbal altercation through the vehicle window.

“He said it so many times I lost track,” he said. “He was totally out of control. The anger in his face and his expressions were just beyond belief.”

Snarr also denies reaching into the vehicle or touching the man.

“I never put my hand on his vehicle or on him whatsoever,” he said.

Snarr, who ran for Salt Lake County Council as a Democrat in 2014, said he informed the man that he was actually a registered Republican, an action he says he took to vote in a GOP primary election.

“And he said, ‘You lying, f-ing Democrat’ and throws his finger out the window,” Snarr said.

“I told him, ‘Your behavior is unacceptable. I’m going to take a picture of your license plate.’ And he said, ‘Well I’m going to call 911,'” the former mayor said.

Snarr, who had to leave before police arrived, met with officers two days later to give his side of the story, he said.

Snarr says he felt like the man “went after me, verbally and with his finger out the window.”

The driver then quickly rolled up the window, said Snarr, who admitted to coughing on the window and “threw a little spit out” with it.

Snarr said the window was “almost all the way up” when he coughed.

Another motorist also witnessed the honking, arguing and alleged spitting on Applegate Drive, police said.

2 COMMENTS

  1. His story keeps changing over and over again trying to make him the victim. I am glad there was a witness and I wish everyone could hear the 911 call. Snarr is not well and is a danger to society. His lies keep adding up and it is only a matter of time before he does this again.

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