Spanish Fork man who fired at officers responding to domestic violence call sentenced to prison

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Allan Victor Searl sentenced on Aug. 12 to nine consecutive terms of one to 15 years in prison, and one term of zero to five years.
Searl admitted firing shots at officers on Jan. 3, and to assaulting his wife and father-in-law before officers arrived.
The judge recommended mental health treatment and ordered the firearms collected by police to be disposed of by authorities.

PROVO — A man who prompted a shelter-in-place order and call a SWAT team in Spanish Fork was sentenced to prison after admitting to firing shots at officers responding to a domestic violence call.

The incident occurred on Jan. 3 at 831 S. 1520 East. Charging documents said the man fired shots toward the SWAT team's vehicle, hitting the vehicle's radiator and a neighboring home, and several officers returned fire before he surrendered to police.

Allan Victor Searl, 58, was sentenced on Aug. 12 to nine terms of one to 15 years in prison for eight counts of assault on a peace officer and one count of aggravated assault resulting in serious injury, second-degree felonies, in addition to zero to five years in prison for aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.

Fourth District Judge Roger Griffin ordered the sentences to run consecutively and gave him credit for the team he had already spend incarcerated on the charges.

The judge recommended mental health treatment while Searl is in prison and ordered the firearms used to be "properly disposed by authorities."

Searl pleaded guilty with a mental condition to the charges on June 10. He admitted that he got into an argument with his wife on Jan. 3 in their home, and after the argument escalated, he used unlawful force to restrict her airway. Searl also admitted to using violence against his father-in-law when he tried to intervene, and seriously injuring his ear.

Charging documents said the woman called 911 to report that her husband "had been drinking and was trying to hurt her." She said she had left their home the night before to stay with her father but had returned with her father that morning to collect some items. The wife claimed when she walked in the door Searl retrieved a knife, and their altercation continued. When she told her husband she could not breath when his arm was around her neck, he responded, "I don't care," the documents claim.

When police responded, he admitted that he fired at least eight shots toward the officers.

The charges against Searl were reduced as part of a plea deal; he was initially charged with five counts of attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult, aggravated assault with serious injury and causing property damage, second-degree felonies; and aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping and three counts of discharge of a firearm, third-degree felonies.

The plea agreement said Searl had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and would benefit from treatment, which it said the state could pay for if Searl's insurance could not cover it.

It said Searl agreed to not contest consecutive prison sentences as part of the plea deal, but the judge decided instead to order concurrent sentences. Searl also agreed to forfeit the guns police had seized from his home.

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