Police say St. George woman brandishing knife attacked 2 teens outside apartment complex

Stock photo.| Photo by Pornchai Soda/iStock/Getty Images Plus, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A woman was arrested Monday evening after a call to 911 reported she assaulted two teens and threatened them with a knife during what authorities say was an unprovoked attack near an apartment complex in St. George.

Street view depicting apartment complex on W. 540 North in St. George where two teens were allegedly assaulted, St. George, Utah, April 7, 2021 | Image courtesy of Google Maps, St. George News

On Monday, officers responded to an apartment complex on W. 540 North in St. George on what was initially reported as a weapon brandishing call.

According to charging documents filed with the court, the 911 caller told police that a female approached two juveniles who were standing near one of the teen’s parked vehicle. The document said she pulled the girl’s hair and then grabbed a knife.

The girl who was reportedly assaulted told officers she was getting something out of the other teen’s vehicle when a woman, later identified as 47-year-old Patti Ann Green, came out of her apartment and began yelling at the teens.

According to witness statements provided at the scene, a teen boy near the vehicle at the time told the others to return to the apartment and ignore the suspect, who he said appeared to be intoxicated.

As they were making their way to the apartment, the suspect walked down from the balcony toward the parking lot and began screaming at the group, the officer noted, and then grabbed one of the teens by the hair, pulled her to the ground and punched her multiple times in the head.

The teen boy told officers he pulled the suspect off the girl and stood over Green to stop the altercation, which is when the suspect struck the teen in the face multiple times. The girl ran back into the apartment while the boy continued to try and calm the suspect down by walking the suspect back to her apartment, all the while Green continued yelling and making threats that she was going to get a knife and attack the teens. Minutes later, they called 911 to report the incident.

Stock photo.| Photo by Motortion/iStock/Getty Images Plus, St. George News

As the teens were being interviewed, the report states that another officer went to speak to the suspect who was visibly upset and could be heard yelling from the front of the apartment as the officer approached. Green continued to walk away while the officer was speaking with her, which is when authorities advised her she was being detained and no longer free to leave.

The suspect continued to pull away from the officers and walk up the stairs as additional officers approached to detain the suspect who had become “combative,” the officer wrote, adding Green continued to pull away as they were attempting to place handcuffs on her and asked her to stop resisting multiple times. As the struggle to detain the suspect ensued, Green eventually dropped to her knees and “had to be carried” to the officer’s patrol vehicle where she could be secured.

Meanwhile, the teens were checked by the officers who noted slight bruising that was beginning to form on one of the teen’s cheeks and redness where she had been struck, along with multiple abrasions on the girl’s leg from being pulled to the ground.

The other teen was struck near his left eye and officers continued to photograph the youths’ injuries for documentation purposes. Officers also spoke to a third teen who was sitting in the vehicle when the altercation took place. They provided a statement that was consistent with the two other accounts provided at the scene.

File photo of St. George Police vehicle on the scene at 100 South and 100 East. Feb. 24, 2021, St. George, Utah | Chris Reed, St. George News

When speaking to Green, officers said they detected a strong odor of alcohol. She explained to the police that she was sitting in her living room when a man came to her door. As the man spoke to her, she told officers the man told her “they were going to fight,” the officer recalled from the interview.

She went on to explain she had no previous incidents with the man and had no idea why he wanted to pick a fight, and then provided no further details other than to repeat that the group was “lying” and to tell the officers “how much she hated SGPD police.”

The suspect was arrested and transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility and booked on one count each of child abuse, assault, interfering with an arrest and intoxication, each a misdemeanor, as well as an infraction for disorderly conduct.

The recent incident is one of several cases involving assault charges and convictions for the suspect, including a case filed in 2016 when Green was arrested on multiple misdemeanor counts of assault on a peace officer after police responded to a fight involving several teens near Meadow View Lane.

During the altercation, the report states that Green was near where the teens were fighting and one of the officers who was trying to pull the teens apart was reportedly struck in the head by the suspect. The suspect then punched the officer several more times before he let go of the juvenile and side-step the suspect, noting there were only two officers on scene at the time of the altercation.

Another man stepped in to help and was also struck on the side of the head by Green, according to the report, and she was ultimately arrested and transported to jail.

She later pled guilty to two of the assault charges while the remaining charges were dismissed.

Following Monday’s arrest, the suspect was released the following evening and is scheduled to appear June 1 for an arraignment hearing in 5th District Court.

Ed. Note: A new Utah law generally prohibits the release of arrest booking photos until after a conviction is obtained.

This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

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