WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah -- A standard TRAX fare check allegedly turned violent when Utah Transit Authority officers arrested a daycare worker. That woman told FOX 13 Monday she thought the officers were unprofessional and unnecessarily aggressive in how they handled her and the situation.
21 year old Shavontae Price takes TRAX to work every day. But last Tuesday, several UTA officers checked her pass, and when they couldn’t verify her identity, that’s when things took a bad turn, Price said.
She claimed one of the officers refused to give her a ticket, but instead used offensive and derogatory language and grabbed her inappropriately to place her under arrest. Fearing for her life, Price said her first instinct was to get away.
“If I didn’t run when I would have something in that type of case would have happened to me that I probably wouldn’t be here today,” Price said.
Price ran the short distance to the 24/7 Daycare where she works, and what allegedly took place there had the entire daycare in shock.
Daycare owner Susan Sutherland said, “I could hear all the commotion. I could hear all the kids screaming and crying and yelling.”
Price said, “The way he threw me in front of them, the way he destroyed my boss’ room, it didn’t have to go that far. I just feel like something should be done to him.”
UTA sent the following statement: “The incident on November 18 continues to be under investigation, but has not turned up wrong-doing on the part of the arresting officer… The UTA officer was within his rights to pursue the fleeing suspect to the daycare where she worked. Once inside, the suspect was found hiding in a back room and continued to resist arrest. The arresting officer tried to minimize the disruption by taking her out a side door, and he denies using any unprofessional behavior or profanity.”
Price was arrested for providing false information to police, failure to stop at the command of a law enforcement officer, interference with arresting officer, and theft of services. She does not have any prior criminal history. Her employer and co-workers are standing behind her. She has since been back to work.
