ST. GEORGE – An incident triggered by a theft of soda from a fast food restaurant ended with multiple police units converging on a suspect’s home and taking three teens into custody.
Around 10:40 a.m. Thursday, a 16-year-old boy allegedly took soda from the McDonald’s on Bluff Street in St. George without paying.
An employee saw this and took the soda and dumped it. This resulted in the 16-year-old following the employee behind the counter and shoving him to the ground before running from the area, St. George Police Officer Lona Trombley said in a statement.
Police responded to the incident and were able to identify the teen and went to his home.
As police officers talked to the boy’s mother at the front door, he initially tried to leave the home through another door. At this time other people came outside and started to confront the officers, which led to them calling for backup.
While this was taking place, Shylee Swilick, who was visiting with her boyfriend’s sister nearby, said she was surprised by the amount of police she saw show up
“I saw a lot of cops and wondered what was going on,” she said. “I then saw three more (patrol cars) show up.”
Swilick estimated that around 14 officers had converged on the scene after even more patrol cars showed up
Like Swilick, others in the neighborhood were watching from their lawns and elsewhere close by as events unfolded.
The teen was ultimately put in handcuffs by an officer and was being led to a patrol car when 19-year-old Marcus Quiddam allegedly stood in the officer’s way and told him to let the teen go.
“Marcus was told to get out of the way but he did not move,” Trombley said. “Marcus then put his chest up against the officer’s while the officer was still holding onto the 16 year old male.”
Quiddam was told to move, yet shoved the officer backward. The officer hit a wall behind him and injured a part of his arm, Trombley said.
“Our officer regained his footing and shoved Marcus backwards and instructed him to ‘get back,’” she said.
Quiddam was arrested for assaulting an officer and interfering with the arrest. He was taken to the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility. He has since been released.
A third teen who kept shouting and cursing at police officers and interfering with the investigation during the arrest was also taken into custody for disorderly conduct and possession of tobacco.
The 16-year-old boy who was the suspect in the initial incident was charged with robbery and interfering with an arresting officer, according to the statement.
He was additionally charged with “propelling a bodily substance” was also added due to the teen spitting on one of the officers after being put in the patrol car.
Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
Email: mkessler@stgnews.com
Twitter: @MoriKessler
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