Crime off I-70 leads to problems for Emery County

By Patsy Stoddard
Editor

Emery County has its share of crime but Interstate 70 brings a whole set of problems into this small county that Emery County quite often can’t afford.
The most recent case involved an unruly passenger on the Greyhound bus. Emery County has been dealing with the aftermath of this incident since April. Shawn Stalcup, DOB April 21, 1991 has been at the root of the incident.
Deputy Kay Jensen dealt first hand with the incident which came in as a 911 call by the bus driver. She said the passenger wasn’t obeying the bus rules and she wanted him removed from the bus.
Deputy Jensen said legally he cannot remove passengers from the bus. “I responded to the scene about 12:05. The driver wanted me to remove the passenger, but I can’t remove them. They bought a ticket so that’s an agreement between the bus and the passenger that they will be transported. That’s a civil issue. I was just there to keep the peace. Trooper Ryan Jensen also responded. We explained he needed to get off the bus for not following the rules and he could catch the next bus. He could use the ticket he already had. He and his girlfriend started gathering up their stuff and started off the bus. Trooper Jensen followed them off the bus. We asked if he had any luggage and the bus driver opened the compartment. He started throwing bags off.
“Stalcup and his girl friend were arguing off to the side. She told him she was remaining on the bus, because it was him that was getting thrown off.
“His girlfriend proceeded to get back on the bus. He kneeled down in front of the door of the bus and was begging her to stay. I instructed him to let her go and he could catch the next bus.
“The bus driver called everyone back on the bus that had been standing around. He was kind of standing away from the bus and was very agitated. I was standing between him and the door. He was pacing back and forth while everyone else got back on the bus. He ran towards the bus and I stepped in front of him and he ran into me. We began fighting on the stairs of the bus. In the meantime, Trooper Jensen thought everything was under control and he had left to go across the street to talk with a witness when he saw us fighting at the door of the bus. He left his car where it was and ran back across the street to assist.
“The suspect broke loose and ran back to where his girlfriend was. We tried to convince him to get off the bus. He was agitated and moved to the back of the bus. There was a woman in the back seat and we instructed her to climb over the seat and get out of there.
“The fight was on as we tried to subdue the suspect. He tore loose from my grasp and grabbed at my gun in the holster. I pulled back to make sure it was still in the holster. Trooper Jensen said he was going to taser the suspect. The suspect jumped to the side and the prongs hit the bus to the side of where the suspect was. At that time I drew my taser. Both of us officers were in the fight and trying to take him into custody. In my mind, this man was going to jail. He kept fighting back. We hit him with the taser for a full five seconds. We told him to put his hands behind his back. He tried to grab Trooper Jensen’s gun twice and my gun about three times. The fight kept going on for five to seven minutes before back up arrived. It was after a 10 minute fight with the help from Craig Nielsen and Gary Riches we were able to get him into custody. Sgt. Mitch Vetere and Trooper Guy Webster arrived by this time. We got the cuffs on him.
“At that point, I just stepped away. I’d been fighting him for the past 15-20 minutes and I was exhausted. The bus was hot because it wasn’t running.
“Trooper Webster tried to convince the suspect to get off the bus. He was still kicking and grabbing every seat as they tried to get him off the bus. Eventually Sgt. Vetere found some leg irons and placed them on him. He was drug off the bus.
“At some point in the altercation I turned on my body cam and it showed us tasering him three times and he swallowed one of the taser prongs.
“This guy was hitting himself in the head and banging his head on the floor of the bus. I’d never seen anything like it. His mouth and nose were bleeding and he was spitting blood at the officers.
“They attempted to put him on a stretcher and it took seven or eight officers to get him on the stretcher and strapped down in the ambulance. The cuffs were released and replaced and double locked. He was taken to the Price hospital where they removed the taser prong.
“Originally, what got the suspect going was, he was asked not to smoke by the door of the bus. Later I found out he did have drugs, meth, in his system. He was super strong.
“These incidents with the bus go on all the time, but usually no crimes have been committed so I can just assist to keep the peace. After this suspect assaulted us, I knew he was going to jail.
“This incident has been very traumatic. I am looking at retirement, it’s really messed with my head. My wife and I finally sat down and talked it out, but since this incident, I’ve been ornery and withdrawn from my family. We’ve worked that out, but I am checking things out to look into retirement. It’s really effected me.
“I really felt like I was going to die that day. Thank goodness we didn’t have to use deadly force. One of the other officers that assisted told me, if he could have had a clear shot, he would have shot the suspect. It was that serious. When he was grabbing at our guns, it would have been a justified shooting. I am just glad it didn’t come to that and no one was hurt. I feel good that we didn’t kill him, but it’s really messed with our heads. Trooper Jensen has had some issues as well after this incident,” said Deputy Jensen.
Emery County Sheriff Greg Funk said, “We had the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office investigate the incident for us where it involved our deputy. After a medical clearance from the hospital he was housed in our jail.
“This suspect has caused a lot of problems at the jail. He damaged the jail and yanked the TV off the wall and broke the phone. He used a small razor blade from his shaving kit and cut himself all over and was bleeding all over the cell. He’s caused all sorts of problems. He was caught trying to pass notes into the womans pod. He was told he was going to be locked down because he wasn’t following the rules. He spit blood on the officers and was putting blood all over the jail cell. This man has a long record. All he knows is life in an institution. He actually likes to get tased because it makes him more violent.
“He went through the court system, and he is now at the prison on two counts first degree felony five years to life. I think he should be in prison at least 10 years. He’s originally from California, but they didn’t want to extradite him on outstanding warrants there.
“These hard core criminals that happen to get in trouble in our county have the potential to cost the county a lot of money and funds we don’t have. My entire jail budget for medical expenses for all inmates is $25,000 per year. This case with Stalcup has the potential to cost between $60,000 to $70,000.
“The sheriff in Utah County resigned over an inmate and his medical expenses. They were close to $1 million.
“There is a legislative bill in the works and we discussed it at the last sheriff’s organization meeting, it would be an insurance which everyone buys into and the state would have to get on board. For a premium each year, the fund would cover the expenses for these types of cases with extenuating circumstances.
“The state doesn’t have these problems, because they have doctors at the prison and a medical wing. The rural counties don’t have access to these types of services.
“We try to be creative to meet our own needs, but these types of situations need more funding than what’s available on the county level. This bill is in the talking stages right now, but it’s something the rural counties need.
“We also need to find new possibilities for dealing with the Greyhound bus problems.
They need security officers. It may come down to not allowing Greyhound to stop in Green River.
“This has been a nightmare and I really feel bad for Kay. We need additional resources to deal with the problems and issues we face from having I-70 in our county and bringing in people from all over the country into our small communities,” said Sheriff Funk.