COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, Utah (ABC4 News) – A code enforcement officer said he was picking up election signs in Cottonwood Heights when a driver came speeding towards him on Election Day.
Cottonwood Heights began removing political signs on parking strips.
“Which is what we do every election cycle,” Sergeant Ken Dailey with the Cottonwood Heights Police Department said.
Police say 63-year-old Richard Parlette was driving down Brighton Way when he saw signs being taken.
That’s when the code enforcement officer says he saw Parlette make a U-turn on Bengal Boulevard.
“He came within a few feet of the officer, and he had to jump out of the way,” says Sgt. Dailey.
Parlette’s wife Kathy tells ABC4 News Investigator Jason Nguyen a different story.
“He turned around, and he honked at him, and he did not even get close to him,” she says. “He just thought something was going on that was wrong, and he wanted to stop it. That is all it was.”
She explained signs are stolen out of the neighborhood all the time.
“He was just trying to scare him away because he thought he was stealing the signs,” she adds, “[He] watched him for a minute and he was picking them up throwing them in the back of a white truck. He had no idea it was a code officer.”
Police say the code enforcement officer wasn’t injured. Richard Parlette was booked for aggravated assault.
The Parlettes say they hope they can work the misunderstanding out in court.
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