Man threw furniture from 14th floor of Little America, tried to grab officer’s gun, charges say

SALT LAKE CITY — A man is facing several felony charges accusing him of throwing furniture from his 14th floor Salt Lake hotel room into the swimming pool below, dropping from his balcony to the room under him, and then trying to grab an officer’s gun after he was arrested.

Jason Lee Moulding, 44, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with disarming a police officer, a first-degree felony; criminal mischief, a second-degree felony; disarming a police officer of a Taser and drug possession, third-degree felonies; and interfering with an arrest, a class B misdemeanor. Court documents list his address as “unknown.”

On June 16, Salt Lake police were called to the Little America Hotel, 500 S. Main, “on the report of an individual throwing furniture from the 14th floor into the pool.” When officers arrived and entered Moulding’s room, he attempted to climb down to the room directly under his “using a makeshift rope made from sheets and blankets tied together,” according to charging documents.

The officers ran down to the room below “where they saw Moulding on the balcony.” Police attempted to pull Moulding into the room and had a Taser out and ready to use, but Moulding grabbed the Taser and attempted to take it away from an officer, the charges state.

The officers were able to get Moulding into handcuffs. He was then taken to a local hospital to be checked for a leg injury. While at the hospital, one of his restraints was loosened to allow medical staff to do their work.

“As soon as the restraint was loosened, Moulding used his right hand to grab (an officer’s) firearm holster. Moulding then held the top of (the officer’s) firearm and pulled upwards,” but the officer was able to remove Moulding’s hand from her gun, charging documents say.

Little America reported that Moulding caused over $19,000 in damage, according to the charges.