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VERNAL — A Uintah County sheep rancher who suffered facial injuries after a Naples police officer took him to the ground during a traffic stop has accepted a plea bargain from prosecutors.
Pablo I. Geronimo pleaded guilty Wednesday to interfering with an arresting officer, a class B misdemeanor.
In exchange for Geronimo's plea, charges of assault on a police officer, driving without a license and using license plates registered to another vehicle were dismissed.
On March 26, Geronimo was stopped on U.S. 40 after Naples police officer Ben Fishler spotted the expired registration tags on his pickup truck. A video recorded by Fishler's chest-mounted camera showed the officer's efforts to help Geronimo find someone to drive his truck home.
When that didn't work, Geronimo became emotional, got out of his truck and started walking away with the officer running after him. The two men scuffled briefly before Fishler took Geronimo to the ground, injuring the 63-year-old man's face.
Naples Police Chief Mark Watkins said an internal investigation determined Fishler followed department policy. Still, the incident led to additional training for all officers in the department, Watkins said.
"I am not pleased with the injuries Pablo sustained during the incident and hope we all learn from this," the chief said. "Policies have been rewritten to better direct the officers in containing and dealing with a situation like this."
Greg Lamb, his defense attorney in the criminal case, said he hasn't heard of any plans for a civil suit against Fishler or the police department.
