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WEST JORDAN — A Utah man has pleaded guilty to grabbing a police officer's gun as part of a plea deal in which charges for firing at an officer with that gun were dismissed.
Eric Wyatt Pectol, 53, said in his plea deal statement he was in a traffic accident on Sept. 17, 2020, and when an officer found him in a nearby field, he told the officer he had a gun. He further states he did not have a gun, but when the officer's gun fell. Petcol grabbed it from the ground.
Petcol was riding a motorcycle at the time of the crash, and collided with a truck. The responding officer realized the man did not have a gun, and deployed his Taser while Petcol was running toward him, but it had no effect. Petcol and the officer then got into a physical fight, and the officer pulled out his gun but dropped it during the struggle, after losing his footing, court documents state.
A second officer reported seeing Petcol pick up the gun and point it at the first officer and then point it at that second officer. Officer John Saulnier said he "saw the muzzle flash and heard the snap of the bullet coming by him," after Petcol fired toward him and missed. The second officer then fired back and hit Petcol four times.
Petcol was initially charged 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.
He ultimately pleaded guilty earlier this month only to disarming a police officer, and the other four counts were dismissed.
The plea says Petcol's attorney, Julie George, will argue for any sentence to be served concurrent with his current prison sentence for a 2017 conviction for theft and drug possession. He was on parole for that when the shooting occurred.
Petcol will be sentenced June 28.
