SANTA CLARA – A man was arrested near a Santa Clara service station Thursday afternoon after the owner of the business suspected he was using drugs in the restroom and reported it to police. The man attempted to run from responding officers, which resulted in him being injured and, ultimately, taken into custody.
Shortly after 1:30 p.m., Cyndi Pollmann, owner of Lightfoot’s Fuel Center & Convenience Store in Santa Clara, suspected a man was using drugs in the gas station’s restroom and reported it to authorities.
“I thought there was some criminal activity going on in my bathroom,” Pollmann said. “I called the police. They came down.”
The man, identified as 29-year-old Saxon Stoker, was located by responding officers.
“As we were talking with him and working with him, he decided to run,” Santa Clara-Ivins Police Officer Chad Holt said.
A short pursuit ensued, lasting less than a minute, Holt said. Stoker fell as he was attempting to flee and injured his knee.
“He was complaining of knee pain, so as a precaution we had an ambulance respond,” Holt said.
Stoker was arrested and has been booked into the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility on charges of failure to stop at an officer’s command, a class A misdemeanor; possessing a weapon as a restricted person, a class A misdemeanor; possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor; and disorderly conduct, a class C misdemeanor. (See ed. note)
This is not the first time Stoker has been nabbed for evading police. In an incident in 2013, he was being sought in connection with alleged vehicle thefts and ran from Hurricane City Police officers, later getting into an altercation with officers before they arrested him.
It is not yet known what sort of controlled substance Stoker was allegedly using in the restroom at Lightfoot’s. When officers detained him, he was only found with paraphernalia – not actual drugs, Holt said.
Pollmann said she will not tolerate criminal activity in her store.
In addition to the Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department, Ivins City EMS also responded to the scene.
Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
St. George News reporter Hollie Reina contributed to this report.
Ed. note: Charges updated per additional booking information.
Hopefully this guy has learned that he’s no good at running from cops. 😉
Some people never learn