ST. GEORGE — A Washington City woman was arrested Friday on a first-degree felony count of aggravated escape, among other charges, after she allegedly tried to stab a St. George Police officer in the neck in an attempt to flee custody.
At approximately 4:33 p.m., officers responded to the Bloomington Walmart located at 2610 S. Pioneer Road on a report of shoplifting, according to a probable cause statement filed by the St. George Police Department in support of the arrest. A female suspect had reportedly stolen electronic items before leaving in a vehicle with two other individuals.
When officers arrived, they spotted a vehicle matching the description and license plate number provided by a Walmart employee, the report stated. Police initiated a traffic stop and had the three individuals exit the vehicle one by one.
“When the female exited, I noticed she dropped something and kicked it under the car,” the arresting officer wrote in a sworn statement. “I later found it to be part of the packaging from the items she had stolen.”
The female suspect – later identified as 19-year-old Megan Hammon, of Washington City – allegedly admitted to stealing a phone, a charger, a portable charging battery and a doughnut from Walmart, according to the statement.
“As I started searching her purse, she began to run away,” the officer wrote in the statement. “I yelled at her to stop. She ran into the roadway into heavy traffic. I yelled multiple times ‘St. George Police, Stop!’ but she continued to run. … I observed a white SUV slam on their brakes to avoid collision with her.”
The officer caught up to Hammon near the roundabout on Brigham Road and secured her on the ground. She was handcuffed and placed in the back of the patrol car.
When police questioned Hammon about syringes, baggies with crystal residue, foil and Q-tips in her purse, Hammon denied that the drug-related items belonged to her but confirmed the purse was hers, according to the statement.
Because force was used to take Hammon into custody, officers made the decision to have her checked out at the hospital before transporting her to jail, the report stated.
Upon arriving at the hospital, the arresting officer noticed Hammon had slipped out of her handcuffs and taken her seat belt off.
“I asked her why she took her seat belt off,” the officer stated. “I then told her to exit the vehicle. When she did so, I noticed what looked like the end of a knife in her left hand. I asked her if she had a knife and told her to turn around. In an instant, she thrust the knife in the direction of my neck and attempted to flee again. I quickly dodged the knife and grabbed a hold of her ….”
While at the hospital, Hammon admitted to providing the name and date of birth of her sister because Hammon had multiple warrants for her arrest for drug distribution.
“Also at the hospital, she apologized for trying to stab me,” the arresting officer wrote.
Hammon was subsequently transported and booked into the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility.
The Washington County Attorney’s Office filed an Information in 5th District Court accusing Hammon of first-degree felony aggravated escape; second-degree felony assault against a peace officer with a weapon or force; five class A misdemeanor counts of failure to stop at the command of law enforcement, obstructing justice, drug possession, providing false personal information and unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon; and three class B misdemeanor counts of interference with arresting officer, possession of drug paraphernalia and retail theft.
Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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Another Koo-Koo on drugs! Thank you officers for taking these risks everyday to protect society.
So much for trying to be “nice” to someone in custody. This could have turned out a lot worse if the knife caught the officer’s carotid artery………….
Why wasn’t the knife labeled as an ‘assault knife’?
I’m waiting for Bender to pull up the wikipedia definition and difference between an ‘assault knife’ and a ‘regular knife’, the distinction being that of ‘selective cutting’ vers. ‘regular cutting’. Then he will say ‘most of us civilized people find no use or reason for knives in todays civil society’.
C’mon Bender. Show us your wiki-logic!
gotta put them cuffs on real nice n tight with these meth addicts. Not a bad idea to shackle the ankles as well or at least chain the cuffs to the waist. these meth addicts can get real squirrely, real fast, with no warning.
A very serious comment to the arresting officer here. Obviously you did NOT do a thorough search. Listen, it doesn’t matter if the arrestee is male, female, adult, juvenile, black, white, tan, red, or anything else.
I sincerely hope you learn something from this. Your very life, and the lives of your fellow officers depend on it. If I was your sergeant, you would have some “beach time” to contemplate this.
Sounds like St George has a real high drug problem. Might not be the place to live anymore. Treatments the only answer. The War on Drugs failed a long time ago with Ronald Reagan
Well ms Hammon. So the predictions are correct by your past religious leaders Warren Jeffs and his followers. They teach if you leave the order you will be caught up in the devils snare. You will be a son or daughter of perdition and you will be wicked and evil. You would have been better to stay in the “Order” and “Keep Sweet”. You could have been another child bride of Warren and or his followers and had your soul saved. Now you are destined to a life of drugs prostitution and crime and now behind bars.
Was it all worth it?
Well this is sad. I wonder what’s going to happen to her daughter. The father is strung out and going nowhere too. 🙁 I hope they get the help they need.
Sure hope the Police recovered that stolen Doughnut !
Prison is often the best thing for a meth addict. It may save her life.
I think some officers need more training on prisoner searches and security.