Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
HOLLADAY — A man accused of taking a police officer's gun and using it to shoot at a second officer now faces five felony criminal charges.
Eric Wyatt Pectol, 50, whose address in court records is listed as the Utah State Prison, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with disarming a police officer, a first-degree felony; two counts of assault against a police officer and possession of a gun by a restricted person, second-degree felonies; and illegal shooting of a gun, a third-degree felony.
Pectol was riding a motorcycle on Sept. 17, 2020, when he collided with a truck near the intersection of 2300 East and 4500 South. Unified police officer Jason Hudgens was filling up his patrol car nearby and went over to the crash to help. But as he approached Pectol, the man got up and ran, according to charging documents.
"Officer Hudgens shouted at Pectol to stop. Pectol reached down his pants and told officer Hudgens that he had a gun," the charges state.
Hudgens initially reacted by pulling out his gun. But when he realized Pectol didn't actually have a gun, he said he holstered his own weapon and pulled out a Taser.
As Hudgens continued to run after Pectol, Pectol suddenly turned around and started running back toward the officer, the charges say. The officer deployed his Taser, which had no effect.
Pectol and Hudgens then got into a fight, prompting Hudgens to again pull out his gun. But the officer lost his footing during the struggle, fell to the ground and dropped his gun, which was picked up by Pectol, according to the charges.
Just as that was happening, a second officer arrived at the scene.
"Officer (John) Saulnier saw Pectol pick up a handgun and point it toward officer Hudgens. Pectol then turned toward officer Saulnier and aimed the gun directly at officer Saulnier so that officer Saulnier was staring down the barrel of the gun," according to charging documents.
Pectol then fired a round, and Saulnier said he "saw the muzzle flash and heard the snap of the bullet coming by him," the charges state.
Pectol's shot missed the officer. Saulnier returned fire, striking Pectol four times in the neck, below his ribs, and twice in the hip.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill later determined that Saulnier was legally justified in using deadly force and praised the actions of both officers that day.
Pectol, who was on parole at the time of the incident, was sent back to the Utah State Prison after being released from the hospital. He was convicted in 2017 of theft and drug possession and sentenced to up to five years in prison. That sentence came on the heels of a 2014 conviction for drug possession in which he was also sentenced to up to five years in prison, according to court records.
In 2006, Pectol was convicted of attempted murder in 2nd District Court and sentenced to a term of one to 15 years at the Utah State Prison.
