TOOELE, Utah (ABC4) – A man has been arrested after allegedly pointing a gun at a police officer in Tooele on Saturday in an effort to “get gun regulations changed.”
On June 18 at around 9 p.m., an officer with the Tooele City Police Dept. observed a man, identified as 33-year-old Spenser Terrell Thomas, riding an electric scooter on the sidewalk near 55 N 200 W.
The officer, parked on the west side of the road, reportedly watched the suspect from his passenger rear view mirror and saw that Thomas began slowing down while he approached the front passenger side of the patrol car.
The probable cause affidavit states the officer rolled down his window as it appeared Thomas wanted to speak with him.
Upon doing so, the officer reportedly observed Thomas put his arm inside the vehicle while holding a handgun that appeared to be tan and black in color, pointing it down towards the officer’s right leg.
The officer says he ordered Thomas to drop the gun multiple times before quickly exiting the vehicle and withdrawing his firearm from his holster.
Thomas allegedly dropped the gun in the front passenger compartment of the vehicle and stepped away.
The affidavit states that Thomas told the officer he had wanted to turn the gun in to “try to get gun regulations changed” and to “prove a point that he shouldn’t be able to have a gun.”
Thomas was arrested and the officer reportedly advised him that he had nearly been shot because of what he had done.
Upon further examination of the gun, the officer noted that it was a “pepper ball style handgun,” with a “hard rubber/foam style projectile ball” inside the chamber.
The officer states that he believed the gun to be real at the time the suspect was pointing it at him.
The suspect was taken to Tooele County Jail and booked on a felony offense of Assault on Peace Officer/Military with the Use of a Dangerous Weapon.
Thomas was previously arrested twice in one day on June 6 for breaking the front window of a car as well as the front window of a business.
