ST. GEORGE – St. George Police Department responded to I-15 Northbound lanes at mile marker six on a disorderly call. Reports from multiple 911 callers related an adult male was causing a disturbance on the freeway and was endangering himself and others. Callers reported the male had jumped out of a vehicle and had appeared he had possibly been in a fight. Officers arrived on scene and made contact with a 44 year old male identified as Elmer Humphrey.
Humphrey was in the roadway when officers arrived. He was shouting, acting violent, and appeared injured so officers immediately requested an ambulance respond to the scene without delay. Officers attempted to talk with Humphrey to calm him down. He allegedly dashed in and out of oncoming traffic and charged one of the officers. He proceeded to attack the officer. Two officers made an effort to subdue him by hand initially without success as he continued to struggle and fight with officers.
Officers deployed a Taser. Humphrey allgedly continued to fight with and assault officers but he was eventually detained and taken to the hospital. Officers sustained minor injuries. Humphrey was admitted to the hospital as a result of apparent complications to admittedly ingesting an excessive amount of cocaine. He is expected to recover at this time and be fine. He remains at the hospital pending medical clearance upon which it is anticipated he will be booked into jail on the following charges: possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana, possession of paraphernalia, disorderly conduct, intoxication, interfering with officers, resisting arrest, and multiple counts of assaulting police officers.
A subsequent investigation into Humphrey's behavior determined he had allegedly taken a large dose of cocaine and was having an adverse reaction to the drug. His girlfriend had originally called 911 but hung up and decided to drive him to the hospital. He jumped out of the moving vehicle twice causing road rash injuries. He was acting delirious and endangering himself and others by being in the roadway and threatening people. Additionally, officers had to place themselves in harm's way to deal with his actions. Northbound lanes of travel had to be closed during the incident.