WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, Jan. 27, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Preliminary charges have been filed against a man who allegedly took a hatchet to a vehicle after the driver honked at the suspect’s girlfriend for cutting in line at an In-N-Out Burger drive-thru in West Valley City.
Damien Lee Hallett, 37, faces charges of two counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, and criminal mischief, a class B misdemeanor.
The preliminary charges were filed Tuesday following the Jan. 17 incident, which happened at the In-N-Out Burger at 3715 S. Constitution Blvd., police say.
The reporting party told West Valley City officers that a woman driving a silver BMW cut in front of him in line, so he “flashed his lights and attempted to get the female’s attention, but she ignored him,” the probable cause statement says.
“A short time later, a male exited a truck parked nearby and approached (the victim’s) vehicle aggressively holding a hatchet. The male yelled at (the victim) and banged on his window. The male broke the passenger window of (the victim’s) vehicle, noticed his hand was bleeding, pointed a hatchet at (the victim) and stated, ‘It’ll be your blood next.'”
The victim’s passenger agreed with the account, and added that the truck driver had threatened them. The passenger also recorded the incident on his cellphone.
Another witness provided the truck’s license plate number, and said it had parked in a Costco parking lot nearby. A records check revealed the truck was registered to Hallett. The WVCPD officer approached the nearby truck, which was unoccupied, and saw a bloody hatchet on the passenger’s seat and blood on the driver’s side door.
Subsequently, Hallett was interviewed at the West Valley City Police station. Officers noted he was wearing gloves.
“Hallett stated that on the night in question, his girlfriend called him to report people in the drive-through were yelling at her,” the statement says. “Hallett stated he gave his keys to a male named ‘Bob’ to go escort his girlfriend home. Hallett could not provide Bob’s last name or contact information.”
