Udink said:
I was out hiking with my two sons (ages 3 and 5) yesterday in the Book Cliffs, about three miles from the nearest pavement at the end of a rough dirt road--it was really out in the middle of nowhere. We had hiked along a trail that went up a steep hillside, and after about half a mile, we turned around and started heading downhill toward the truck. It was then that I saw a person standing next to the truck, but there were no other vehicles in sight. Apparently some transient had been camped nearby, and after we'd left the truck, he started snooping around. I'm not exactly sure what he was doing, probably looking for a spare key hidden under the truck, but I saw him climb into the truck bed. At that point I yelled down to him to leave the truck alone, and he stopped what he was doing to look up the mountainside toward me, then ducked down behind the cab of the truck again where I couldn't see him. I yelled again, and he got out of the truck bed, but kept snooping around.
I knew then that there was something wrong with the guy--he knew I was there and I was coming down the mountain toward him, but he wasn't leaving. I decided to fire a warning shot, in the opposite direction from him, just to let him know I was very serious about protecting myself, my sons, and my property. After I fired the shot and yelled at him one more time to leave, I saw his arm come down in a sweeping motion toward one of the rear tires, and I heard the air suddenly escaping. He then slashed the other rear tire and left the area.
As I was hurrying down the trail toward the truck, he disappeared from my view in the bottom of a wash, and when he came back up the other side of the wash a few minutes later, he was wearing a large backpack which he hadn't been wearing before, so I'm assuming he was camped down there. As I was heading west and he was heading south, he slowly started looping around to the east and then northeast and was coming straight toward my sons and me. I really thought at that point that he was coming after us, and at a minimum I knew that he had a knife, and I thought that I might really have to use the handgun to defend my life. We were at the bottom of the mountain by then, and we headed northwest to try to put some distance between us and him. We ended up circling around each other about 1/4 mile apart, and finally it got to the point where he was hiking up the trail that we'd just come down off of, and he kept on going up. I finally felt safe enough to stop and dial 911, and I explained to the dispatcher everything that had happened.
About nine law enforcement vehicles arrived, and they even called out an airplane to search for the guy, but once he climbed to the top of the mountain (about 1,000 higher in elevation from where the truck was), he was off the narrow trail and could disappear in almost any direction. The police never did catch up to him--he had a one hour head start--but one Emery County sheriff's deputy got pretty close before he crested the top and disappeared into the juniper and pinyon pine.
I'm not necessarily certain that being armed saved my life, but I definitely question the mental stability of the guy. Before I'd even fired the warning shot to scare him off, he had cut holes in the two 5-gallon fuel cans that were in the bed of my truck, all presumably because I'd yelled at him to leave. He was bold enough to stick around even after I'd fired the warning shot, and the sheriff's deputy said that the guy was yelling down at him and taunting him as he tried catching up.
Apparently the guy wasn't afraid of me after he knew that I was armed (especially because he started walking straight toward me at one point), so if I hadn't been armed I think that yelling down to him would have been a big mistake. I shudder to think what might have happened if I hadn't been able to defend myself and my sons.
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This did NOT sound right to me.
He wasn't even close to you, right???
He didn't Threaten you with "serious bodily harm or death" right???
You NEVER shoot a "warning" shot...IF you shot you shot to stop the IMMEDIATE THREAT.
I think you were in the wrong 100%
But then again I wasn't there.
In general if the Perp is within 21-30 feet and somehow portrays a threat with anything OTHER than his/her fists. Not good.
Seeing somebody going thru a Truck...Observe and IF possible call 911. Give description and wait for the Popo
Just my .45
http://www.gunthorp.com/Carry%20Application%20Utah.htm
76-2-401. Justification as defense -- When allowed.
(1) Conduct which is justified is a defense to prosecution for any offense based on the conduct. The defense of justification may be claimed:
(a) when the actor's conduct is in defense of persons or property under the circumstances described in Sections 76-2-402 through 76-2-406 of this part;
(b) when the actor's conduct is reasonable and in fulfillment of his duties as a governmental officer or employee;
(c) when the actor's conduct is reasonable discipline of minors by parents, guardians, teachers, or other persons in loco parentis, as limited by Subsection (2);
(d) when the actor's conduct is reasonable discipline of persons in custody under the laws of the state; or
(e) when the actor's conduct is justified for any other reason under the laws of this state.
(2) The defense of justification under Subsection (1)(c) is not available if the offense charged involves causing serious bodily injury, as defined in Section 76-1-601, serious physical injury, as defined in Section 76-5-109, or the death of the minor.
76-2-402. Force in defense of person -- Forcible felony defined.
(1) A person is justified in threatening or using force against another when and to the extent that he or she reasonably believes that force is necessary to defend himself or a third person against such other's imminent use of unlawful force. However, that person is justified in using force intended or likely to cause death or serious bodily injury only if he or she reasonably believes that force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself or a third person as a result of the other's imminent use of unlawful force, or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
(2) A person is not justified in using force under the circumstances specified in Subsection (1) if he or she:
(a) initially provokes the use of force against himself with the intent to use force as an excuse to inflict bodily harm upon the assailant;
(b) is attempting to commit, committing, or fleeing after the commission or attempted commission of a felony; or
(c) (i) was the aggressor or was engaged in a combat by agreement, unless he withdraws from the encounter and effectively communicates to the other person his intent to do so and, notwithstanding, the other person continues or threatens to continue the use of unlawful force; and
(ii) for purposes of Subsection (i) the following do not, by themselves, constitute "combat by agreement":
(A) voluntarily entering into or remaining in an ongoing relationship; or
(B) entering or remaining in a place where one has a legal right to be.
(3) A person does not have a duty to retreat from the force or threatened force described in Subsection (1) in a place where that person has lawfully entered or remained, except as provided in Subsection (2)(c).
(4) For purposes of this section, a forcible felony includes aggravated assault, mayhem, aggravated murder, murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, and aggravated kidnapping, rape, forcible sodomy, rape of a child, object rape, object rape of a child, sexual abuse of a child, aggravated sexual abuse of a child, and aggravated sexual assault as defined in Title 76, Chapter 5, and arson, robbery, and burglary as defined in Title 76, Chapter 6. Any other felony offense which involves the use of force or violence against a person so as to create a substantial danger of death or serious bodily injury also constitutes a forcible felony. Burglary of a vehicle, defined in Section 76-6-204, does not constitute a forcible felony except when the vehicle is occupied at the time unlawful entry is made or attempted.
(5) In determining imminence or reasonableness under Subsection (1), the trier of fact may consider, but is not limited to, any of the following factors:
(a) the nature of the danger;
(b) the immediacy of the danger;
(c) the probability that the unlawful force would result in death or serious bodily injury;
(d) the other's prior violent acts or violent propensities; and
(e) any patterns of abuse or violence in the parties' relationship.
