Posted by Travis Uresk | May 31st, 2023 | Aggravated Assault |
By Travis Uresk
5/31/23
Vernal, Ut.-On the morning of 5/26/23, Vernal City Police Officers responded to the Econo Stay Motel on 311 East Main Street on a report of a male who had been assaulted.
When the officers arrived, they saw the victim had a bloody and swollen face, his motel room door had been kicked in, and the door frame was broken.
The victim was transported to a local hospital, where he was later flown to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City due to what medical staff informed the officers to be a subdural hemorrhage (brain bleed).
Detective Collom began an investigation into locating the assailant in this case. Information provided about the victim's statement to the officers was that the victim didn't know his attacker.
The Detective spoke with the victim's girlfriend, who also didn't know who the suspect was. The only information the Detective had was that the suspect may have arrived in a truck currently parked in front of one of the motel rooms and was tall with a white shirt and a white hat.
Detective Collom collected evidence from the Vernal City Detectives and gathered surveillance video from the Econo Stay Motel from the night of May 25th into the morning of the 26th.
After reviewing the video, Detective Collom observed a truck parked in front of room #162 pull into the parking lot and a tall male with a white shirt and a white hat get out of the truck.
During the video, the suspect gets into several altercations at various locations on the Econo Stay property. The first altercation shows the suspect hitting the victim, knocking him to the ground, and he continues to hit and drag the victim.
Later, there are multiple other confrontations in front of room #162. The suspect hits the victim with tremendous force, knocking him to the ground, where he lies there for several hours. The suspect continues to taunt and confront the victim and his girlfriend, and it appears the man's girlfriend tries to defend herself and the victim from the suspect.
Further investigation into the driver of this truck led the Detective to identify the suspect as 24-year-old Kurt Landon Tippen from Mississippi.
Detective Collom talked with several coworkers of Kurt’s, and they confirmed Kurt had talked about an altercation with an older man in the motel parking lot.
The Detective found his Facebook page of Kurt and confirmed he matched the suspect seen assaulting the victim in the surveillance video. Kurt is a tall, very thin white male with a large tattoo in old English font across his chest.
At this time, an attempt to locate was broadcast for Kurt.
Vernal City Police contacted Officer Cox with the Naples City Police about a wanted man for an aggravated assault case that was possibly in the Naples area. VPD advised he could have been dropped off in the 1500 East US 40 area.
Officer Cox went to the area but didn't locate Kurt.
After about an hour of trying to locate Kurt, Officer Cox saw a male that appeared to be the suspect based on the photo. Kurt was walking North on the highway, coming up behind Officer Cox's parked patrol vehicle.
Cox exited his vehicle, approached Kurt, and called him by name. Kurt claimed that wasn't his name and stated he had no ID. Officer Cox thought to himself he looked exactly like his photo sent by VPD, and he had a southern accent.
Officer Cox advised Kurt that he would be detained for VPD and told him to put his hands behind his back. Cox latched onto Kurt's left wrist, suddenly pulling away from the Officer and taking off, running East off the highway into a field.
Officer Cox yelled commands at Kurt to stop and deployed his taser, which barely missed him. Kurt went over a fence, and Officer Cox chased behind him, commanding him to stop.
Kurt finally stopped about ¾ of a mile into the field, lay down on his stomach, and then put his hands behind his back. Kurt was placed in handcuffs.
Kurt stated he feared going to prison for whatever fight occurred the other night.
When Officer Cox returned Kurt to his patrol vehicle, VPD transported him to the Vernal Police Station.
When Detective Collom met Kurt, he initially told a false story about the victim attempting to rob him. When confronting Kurt, that was not true. He stated he was attempting to purchase some marijuana from the victim and his girlfriend and said they were acting strange and wanted them to leave him alone.
Kurt said the man made him angry, and he hit him while they were standing in the back of the motel by a playground. Hurt said he didn't remember any further confronting and assaulting the man but stated it probably did happen because he was intoxicated.
The Detective explained the victim's current condition, and he seemed genuinely surprised by it. Kurt explained that wasn't his intention and that he simply wanted the man to leave him alone.
Kurt didn't state the victim attacked him first and admitted to being the physical aggressor in the altercation. He also acknowledged the small stature of the victim, describing him as older and about a foot shorter than himself.
Kurt Tippen was transported and booked into the Uintah County Jail for: Aggravated Assault due to Kurt using unlawful force and violence, causing serious bodily injury to the victim, due to the victim being flown to the University Hospital for a brain bleed which created a substantial risk of death. With this information, this will be charged a Second Degree Felony. Kurt is also being charged with Intoxication, a Class C Misdemeanor, due to his admitting to being intoxicated to the point of being a danger to others, for interfering with arresting Officer after knowing that a law enforcement officer was clearly seeking to effect a detainment and he pulled away from me, and for failing to stop at the command of a peace officer by fleeing on foot after several commands were given to stop.
