On January 27th, at about 10:30 PM the mother of a juvenile posted on one of the popular Facebook pages for Eagle Mountain called “Eagle Mountain City Citizens“. The post started a flurry of activity. The post stated that her son was the victim of racial profiling and was treated like “George Floyd”. Not all of the information was presented at that time. To help clear up any misinformation or confusion I reached out to the Utah County sheriff’s office for a statement as well as the resident that made the Facebook post. When I reached out to the Sherrif’s department I was told by Sargeant Spencer Cannon, Public Information Officer that “Chief McDowell is in contact with the boy’s father and may meet with them today or the first part of next week.” The meeting did take place and Sargeant Cannon followed up with this statement:
“On Wednesday night, January 27, 2021, at about 9:10 PM, Deputies in Eagle Mountain received a report that a group of five people in a car were drinking alcohol. When Deputies arrived, they found there were six people, not five, in the car. One, the owner of the car, was 18 years old. The other five people were juveniles. As Deputies spoke to the kids in the car, they smelled the odor of vape, a tobacco product. None of the kids in the car were old enough to use or possess any kind of tobacco products.
The parents of one of the boys, a juvenile made a complaint about how their son was treated. Sheriff’s Office officials did meet with the parents of the young man in question and reviewed the security video from the convenience store. Deputies in this case followed procedure for this kind of a call. While there is no audio with the video, the video will show that when the young man asked one Deputy if he could leave, that Deputy, before checking with other Deputies, told him he could. Moments later, before the boy was more than 20 feet away, other Deputies, having evidence that there was tobacco in the car, and seeing that young man leave, told him he needed to come back. The young man was upset after having been told he could leave and did not immediately comply with the order to return. Because of his unwillingness to cooperate Deputies put handcuffs on him and had him sit on a curb while they finished their investigation. One of the occupants of this car was 18 years old. This young man and the rest of the kids in the car were all under age 18. There were tobacco products found in the car and none of these kids were old enough to possess tobacco. The tobacco products were seized and destroyed, and warnings were issued to those in possession of those products. The young man’s mother arrived while her son was still detained in handcuffs. After the investigation was over the young man was released to his mother.”[SOURCE: Email dated Tue, 2 Feb 2021 00:46:27 +0000]
The mother followed up with me with the following statement after meeting with the sheriff’s office. “We have seen the video from the gas station, sheriff admitted miscommunication between the officers that lead to the unnecessary use of force… but to me, still excessive, not brutality, but excessive. No charge have been filed against none of the kids, just a warning against the driver (owner of the car because of tobacco products in the car that belonged to her) but my son, contrary to the new comments on Facebook, wasn’t at fault this time.”
I did a GRAMA request to the USCO and asked for the video they collected from the Gas Station as well.
This video was obtained by cedarvalleysentinel.com from the Utah County Sheriff’s office. It is of an incident in Eagle Mountain at about 9:30 PM where the UCSO responded to a call at one of the Chevron Gas Stations in Eagle Mountain.
Editors Note:
I debated if I should publish this or not, as the teen involved told his mother that he felt it may cause him some unnecessary issues. After looking at what was said on Facebook I feel I needed to post both sides of the story. I have intentionally left the resident’s names out of the article. There were some pretty serious accusations made in a public forum that I felt needed to be looked into and both sides told. Both parties, the residents and the UCSO were willing to help and provide the information requested.
Mike Kieffer is an IT geek by hobby and trade, with a BS in Information Systems & Technology. He is a proud father of 10, a grandpa, an author, a journalist, and internet publisher. His motto is to “Elevate, Inspire and Inform”, and he is politically conservative and a Christian. Mike has a passion for technology, writing, and helping others. With a wealth of experience, he is committed to sharing his knowledge with others to help them reach their full potential. He is known for his jackassery or his form of self-expression that encourages boldness, creativity, and risk-taking. It can be a way to push the boundaries and challenge traditional norms, leading to creative solutions and positive change.