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SPRINGVILLE — “Everybody likes pizza.” Preston Haun followed his bold statement with a smile and a giggle. Pizza seems to always be in the top five on lists people make of their most favorite foods.
It’s also easy to order and eat, which is why Haun wanted some last Monday evening. Haun called in sick to work that day and wanted something easy.
“We prepaid for it and went to go pick it up,” he said while sitting on his living room couch.
The pizza wasn’t ready when they got to the Springville Papa John’s, so his wife waited inside while Haun waited outside in the car.
“I didn’t feel well enough, so I just sat in the car. And she had sent me a video of this guy in there acting erratically,” said Haun.
In the cell phone video his wife sent him, you can see a man acting strange and yelling at employees. After the video stops, Haun’s wife said the man began yelling at customers.
Someone said he pulled out a knife and started yelling.
“I don’t know why, but I looked in the rearview mirror, and I just saw people scattering,” said Haun.
That’s when his training kicked in. You see, Haun is a sergeant with the Utah Department of Corrections. He’s used to dealing with people and tense situations.
So, he got out of his car and ran inside to confront the man.
“From there, he keeps saying ‘what are you to me? What are you to me? I’m going to kill you. What are you to me?’” said Haun.
That’s when it all happened.
“I just tackled him. Threw him over my hip and then we went to the ground and we wrestled around for a minute,” he said. “The whole incident, I don’t really remember a whole lot about it anymore. It went that quick.”
Haun was able to keep the man on the ground and held him there until police arrived.
“I did try to release him a little bit, but then he started acting really erratic again, so I had to hold his head back down,” said Haun. “My wife also sat on his legs to help me keep him down.”
Tammy Haun said she had never seen her husband in “law enforcement mode” before and it impressed her.
“He was so quick and he threw that man down so easily,” she said.
Police say the man, Clinton Camp, 50, has a long criminal history. Camp was charged on Dec. 14 with aggravated assault and disorderly conduct, according to court documents. He was taken to the Utah County Jail.
“I cut my knee. I pulled a hamstring, and then just little cuts and stuff on my wrist and hand. And a big bruise on my knee,” said Haun.
What bothered him the most, though, was what happened to the sweatshirt he was wearing.
“He grabbed my drawstring and pulled it out of my hoodie,” he said with a laugh.
We all know how tough it is to put a drawstring back through a hoodie. Haun knows it, but he also knows he doesn’t want to be called a hero.
He just wanted to be known as a guy who did what had to be done.
“I would think any one of my fellow officers would do the same thing. It’s nothing different. I just reacted,” he said. “I would do the same thing tomorrow, if it happened. It’s just things went my way this time.”
Especially since he got a free pizza.
