Rick Speer was arrested Tuesday by the Salt Lake City Police Department after initially resisting and threatening officers with a machete. Photo: Salt Lake County
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Feb. 3, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — A wanted fugitive who reportedly swung a machete at officers trying to arrest him Tuesday evening was taken into custody and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail.
Detectives in the Salt Lake City Police Department’s gang task force were in the area of 1700 West and 1000 North at about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, and were looking for Rick Speer, 40, of Salt Lake City. Officers went to a home with an arrest warrant.
The Salt Lake City Police Department released a prepared statement.
“His mother answered the door as detectives watched the man flee into a bathroom, armed with a machete,” the statement said.
“As officers approached, he began swinging it at them, yelling that the officers would have to kill him. An officer deployed his taser and Rick Speer, 40, was taken into custody and booked for aggravated assault on a police officer, possession of meth, and a felony warrant.”
No officers were injured in the machete attack. The warrant was issued Jan. 28 in connection with thefts and burglaries in Salt Lake City.
