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SALT LAKE CITY — A man who said he helped flip over a Salt Lake police police patrol car on Saturday has turned himself in.
Connor Peebles, 21, was arrested Sunday for investigation of criminal mischief, rioting and assault on a police officer.
During the riot in downtown Salt Lake City, several people were seen pushing an unoccupied Salt Lake police vehicle onto its side. The patrol car was later set on fire.
Salt Lake police released surveillance photos of four men who detectives wanted to question in connection with the incident. On Sunday, Peebles walked up to officers and said he “wanted to turn himself in from the rioting last night. ... (He said) he helped flipped an officer’s police car during the riots, broke out two windows of the police car” and threw water bottles at officers, according to a police affidavit.
Anyone with information about others involved in damaging the patrol car or other incidents can call police at 801-799-3000.
The burning patrol car was one of the most visible moments of Saturday’s riot. But there were other reports of broken windows and vandalism throughout the downtown area.
Salt Lake City Justice Court was closed Monday as crews repaired damage to its brick facade, cleared graffiti and boarded up 12 to 15 broken windows. Virtual hearings continued to be held online and the court planned to reopen Tuesday, said presiding Judge Clemens Landau.
In an order directing the temporary closure, Landau and his colleagues noted the court had managed to stay open amid the pandemic, the March earthquake and a series of aftershocks, and several earlier rallies.
“Through it all, our modus operandi could be aptly summarized using the very words now scrawled on our street-side walls: “No justice, No Peace,” the order reads.
The city will repair the physical damage in short order, the judges wrote, “but we also know that the social and psychological wounds exposed by George Floyd’s killing will take much longer to heal. We are painfully aware that municipal courts like ours have historically been situated on, or at least very near, the tip of systemic racism’s spear.”
The judges said they’re making an effort to reverse that by trying to make sure juries reflect the diversity of the community and working with academics at Harvard to analyze and address implicit bias among jurors.
Just a few blocks away, hearings went on as normal Monday at the state’s 3rd District Matheson Courthouse on 400 South and State. A broken window at the west entrance was the only damage the building sustained, said state courts spokesman Geoffrey Fattah.
Damaged was estimated at $10,000. Two women were arrested Saturday night for investigation of disorderly conduct for allegedly throwing the rocks.
