Police deploy Taser after woman bites 3 officers, police say

SALT LAKE CITY — A woman who Salt Lake police say bit three officers, scratched a paramedic and kicked a couple of other officers was arrested Friday after briefly having a gun pointed at her before a Taser was deployed.

The arrest of the black woman came just before a joint press conference with Salt Lake Police Chief Mike Brown and Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder who reacted to the fatal shooting of five police officers in Dallas during a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest.

Just after 10 a.m., an off-duty police officer spotted a man and woman struggling over a bag near 300 West and 400 South, said Salt Lake Police Lt. Derek Dimond. Unsure what was happening, the officer stopped to investigate.

As the officer approached, the man took the bag and walked one way and the woman the other, Dimond said.

The officer talked to the man to find out what was happening. While they were talking, the woman started heading back toward them. She walked into traffic and threw several items, including a blanket, at passing vehicles, he said.

The woman then became aggressive toward the officer, who unholstered his gun.

"I guess at some point she picked up some rocks, and he didn't have any other weapons on him … and she had taken a posture aggressive towards him," Dimond said.

Backup officers quickly arrived and the off-duty officer put his gun away as they attempted to arrest her. The woman fought with several officers who could be seen rolling on the concrete pavement with her, trying to subdue her.

Dimond said the woman bit three of the officers before a Taser was deployed on her. After she was put on a paramedic gurney, she continued to struggle and scratched a Gold Cross ambulance worker and continued to kick officers, he said.

Dimond said while his officers were certainly aware of the tragedy in Dallas and the underlying tension in the U.S., "It doesn't change the way we do business."

"That played no bearing into anything (the off-duty officer) did," he said. "The officer, on his own time, stops, tries to help someone out."

The name of the woman was not immediately released.

Contributing: Ladd Egan

Related topics