GARFIELD COUNTY – A 61-year-old man is dead following a fatal assault that occurred Tuesday morning.
The man was a staff member at a rehabilitation facility near Escalante, Utah, and was attacked by a 17-year-old juvenile around 7:30 a.m., according to a press release from the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office.
The attack was witnessed by another youth who ran to a nearby building for help. A female staff member responded and confronted the 17-year-old. She managed to keep him out of the building, but was also attacked and injured.
The teen then gained access to a staff member’s vehicle and headed toward Escalante, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Information concerning the stolen vehicle was given to the sheriff’s deputies responding to the incident.
The deputies encountered the 17-year-old who was traveling at high speeds and engaged in a pursuit. They ultimately used a PIT maneuver that caused the teen to crash the vehicle. The teen was subsequently taken into custody.
The female staff member who was attacked was taken to a nearby hospital and is reported to be in stable condition.
The Sheriff’s Office did not release the suspect’s name due to his being a juvenile. The identities of the victims and the name of the facility the incident occurred have also not yet been released by authorities.
Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MoriKessler
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.
This is such a sad and tragic situation my condolences to the family of course and hopefully the other staff will recover. and a young man’s life has been altered forever. but he is in custody which is best for all those involved.
I spent 2.5 years in a treatment program. In W.Samoa , it was called Paradise Cove. Most of these schools of been shutdown because of reports of child abuse and other forms of mistreatment of kids. Yes, this does happen, but I have seen first hand that most of these reports are false, the kids are trying to manipulate parents and staff to let them come home. Rules and regulations are set into place to prevent these kinds of situations. I was not there, but this kid might have manipulated this staff member enough to drop his guard. Then the kid killed him. I thought I was a tough guy too, tried to run numerous times. The staff members and local law enforcement put my little black behind in check! BASED ON RESULTS this kid needed to be in treatment. I would say a treatment facility with tighter security and stricter rules. There are only a handful of these schools left. Most have been shut down because of BS child rights laws. Plug alert! if you have a child in need of a long term residential treatment. Give my mother a call 1-800-429-6099 her name is Dina Dalton. She put my brother and myself through the program, and many others. My mother is so gangster she put my brother through twice! GO Falcons!