Pleasant Grove man arrested, accused of beating woman with vise grips

PLEASANT GROVE — A Pleasant Grove man was arrested Sunday and accused of hitting a woman in the head with vise grips, causing severe injuries.

Ronald Lynn Pace, 61, was booked into the Utah County Jail for investigation of attempted murder, criminal mischief, damaging or interrupting a communication device, intoxication and violation of a pretrial protective order.

Police were called Sunday to a Pleasant Grove home where dispatchers reported a woman was "screaming for help and it sounded as if another person was hitting her."

The woman in the 911 call said the man had a wrench and was "trying to kill me," according to a police booking affidavit.

When officers arrived, the man and woman were laying on the floor of the garage and a pair of vise grips covered in blood near the man. The man also had blood "all over him," the affidavit states.

The woman told officers her head injury was the source of all the blood. She was taken a hospital, where she was transferred to the intensive care unit for severe head trauma and a brain bleed.

Police said they could smell "the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage" on Pace's breath. He had gone to the home — a violation of a protective order — and started a fight with the woman, the affidavit states.

"During the altercation he struck her multiple times in the head with what the victim described as him using all his body weight," police wrote.

Investigators said the woman was screaming for help in the hope that anyone would hear her, and she had dialed 911 when he arrived and left the line open. Pace later noticed the phone and threw it on the ground trying to end the call, police said.

"While sitting in the rear of a patrol vehicle after being taken into custody, Ron stated openly without being questioned that he was going to kill her," according to the affidavit.

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