Idaho man faces assault charge after allegedly ramming Utah park rangers’ car
An Idaho man faces a federal assault charge after officials said he rammed a National Park Service vehicle with his truck, narrowly missing a park ranger.
A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted the 51-year-old Hazelton man on a single count of assault with a deadly or dangerous weapon on an employee of the United States. The charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.
The man was at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in southern Utah around 7:30 p.m. May 3 when two park rangers responded to a report of an erratic driver in a white pickup truck at Lake Powell, according to the criminal complaint against the man.
The court document said Park Rangers Matthew Brantley and Donald Plassman stopped the Idaho man, who was driving a white GMC Sierra Denali, and spoke with him. Part of their conversation included a reference to an interaction Brantley had with the man the previous day, the complaint said, though there were no further details on what that interaction was.
The document alleged the man drove away from the traffic stop, at which point the rangers returned to their patrol car. On the way back to the car, Plassman said, the Idaho man almost hit him with the truck as he drove away.
The criminal complaint said body-cam recordings showed the Idaho man turned his truck around and began heading back toward the park rangers within 30 seconds of leaving the traffic stop. He allegedly “swerved at the rangers’ vehicle.” The rangers turned their vehicle around to follow the man and commented that he appeared intoxicated due to his erratic driving, and had seemed glassy-eyed when they spoke with him.
A few seconds later, according to the footage, the man swerved off the pavement onto the dirt shoulder, where he turned his vehicle around to head back toward the rangers. Plassman, who was the passenger, told Brantley to “make sure you get out of his way” just seconds before the man allegedly collided with the driver’s side of the rangers’ truck.
The criminal complaint said the collision sent the rangers’ vehicle onto the shoulder, deployed the vehicle’s airbags and rendered the driver’s side door of the rangers’ vehicle unusable. The rangers exited through the passenger door as the Idaho man backed up his truck, which was still facing the rangers’ vehicle.
Plassman and Brantley shot at the Idaho man. It’s unclear if he was injured. The criminal complaint stated other officers arrived on scene and provided medical aid before arresting the man.
