Susan Hunt pleads guilty to DUI in January confrontation with police

Susan Hunt pleads guilty to DUI in January confrontation with police

(Scott G Winterton, Deseret News, File)


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TOOELE — Susan Hunt, the mother of a man killed by Saratoga Springs police officers in 2014, pleaded guilty Tuesday to class B misdemeanor DUI.

Hunt, 53, also pleaded guilty to having an open container of alcohol in her vehicle on a highway, a class C misdemeanor, in connection with the Jan. 26 incident.

Hunt's charges of reckless endangerment, a class A misdemeanor, as well as disorderly conduct and driving on the wrong side of the roadway were dismissed.

Hunt's son, Darrien Hunt, was shot and killed by Saratoga Springs police officers on Sept. 10, 2014. The officers had confronted him about a souvenir katana sword he was carrying.

Darrien Hunt was shot six times in the back by Cpl. Matt Schauerhamer and officer Nicholas Judson, who said they believed him to be a threat to others at nearby businesses. Schauerhamer and Judson were later found legally justified in the shooting.

Utah Highway Patrol troopers reported they needed to negotiate with Susan Hunt for 15 minutes to exit her car after they contacted her for driving impaired and on the wrong side of the road on Jan. 26. The woman had been driving on state Route 73 near Stockton in Tooele County.

Susan Hunt, whose blood-alcohol level was almost twice the legal limit, was combative with troopers and told them she wished their children would die, a UHP report says. She also called the troopers "evil," the report states.

The ordeal was Susan Hunt's second run-in with police since her son was killed.

She instigated a scuffle with Saratoga Springs police in October 2014 after they had stopped someone close to where her son had been shot. For that case, she pleaded guilty in June to failure to disperse, a class C misdemeanor, and disorderly conduct, a class C misdemeanor offense that was reduced to an infraction.

Susan Hunt was ordered to pay a $250 fine and placed on probation for nine months as a result of that case. The charges were originally set to be dismissed through a diversion agreement, but her DUI in January violated the terms of that arrangement.

Susan Hunt was also previously in a dispute with Saratoga Springs over whether she was required to accept a $900,000 settlement with them in a lawsuit she had filed that accused the officers who killed her son of using excessive force. In February, U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell ruled that she was required to accept the settlement.

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