SLCPD officers assaulted in two incidents on one day
Apr 20, 2022, 10:10 PM | Updated: Jun 20, 2022, 1:36 pm
Two separate assaults on Salt Lake City Police Officers in one day.
Wednesday morning was busy for Salt Lake City Police Officers.
And twice, around eight, officers encountered suspects who chose noncompliance. In both cases, officers had identified stolen cars.
The first happened on 980 South State Street.
“One of our officers was attempting to take someone into custody and the suspect actually pulled out a personal electrical device to try to drive-stun our officers on scene,” says Brent Weisberg, spokesperson for Salt Lake Police Department.
In that case, officers ultimately did arrest the suspect and booked him into the Salt Lake County Jail.
Just down the street, on 1900 West North Temple, officers spotted a stolen car and attempted to arrest the man inside. While this man didn’t pull out a taser, he did start a scuffle that ended up injuring one of the officers, who was treated at the hospital with minor injuries.
Weisberg says assaults on officers are up.
“From 2020 to 2021, we’ve seen a 16-percent increase of assaults that have been happening on our officers.”
While they don’t know why, he says they are always prepared and will continue to proactively patrol the city.
28-year-old Hung Nguyen faces numerous felony and misdemeanor charges. 21-year-old Sione Finau Faluku was also booked on assault and theft charges.