A pair of Iron County Sheriff deputies resigned two weeks ago and may now face criminal charges after a night of drinking and partying last month that landed one of the officers in the hospital with several injuries.
The Washington County Attorney’s Office confirmed Wednesday they are reviewing possible charges in an incident involving former deputies Ronnie Skeem and Adam Burton, who a police report stated were drunk and fighting the night of Aug.22.
According to the police report, the former deputies had allegedly been drinking together that evening at Burton’s home in Parowan when a verbal argument allegedly turned to a physical fight between the two officers.
“Skeem and Adam work together and are friends off duty,” the report states. “It appears that this was a misunderstanding that was fueled by alcohol.”
After the initial argument, the report states that Skeem left the house to walk home, with Burton following behind him. Burton later allegedly told officers that Skeem continued to hit him as they were walking down the road. Skeem, however, reported he was ahead of Burton until he heard him arguing with a neighbor and Burton called for him to come back.
The report states that Skeem heard Burton say, “Skeem, 10-78,” a code used by police to ask for backup. Skeem told the police after hearing Burton call for help he came back and found him “face to face with the neighbor.”
“Fearing that another assault would occur, Skeem tackled Adam from the rear and held him until the police showed up,” the investigating officer wrote in his report.
Parowan police department and the sheriff’s office responded to the calls. However, both agencies, after declaring a conflict of interest, turned it over to Cedar City Police Department for further investigation.
When officers initially arrived on scene, they reported to have found Skeem still holding Burton to the ground. The officers reported that both men appeared to have been drinking and Burton’s face was bleeding. The report states that Burton, who was allegedly acting “fairly belligerent” at the time, was placed into handcuffs.
Parowan police Sgt. Paul Smith transported Burton to Valley View Medical Center for further care.
The CCPD officer, who later went to the hospital to interview Burton, wrote in his report when he got there that the deputy’s face was swollen and his right eye was starting to blacken.
Neither officers were arrested that night on scene, but investigation findings were sent to the Iron County Attorney’s Office for screening, who referred the case to Washington County.
CCPD Public Information Officer Jimmy Roden confirmed that the department had conducted an investigation into “an alleged disorderly conduct case involving two Iron County employees” but declined to answer why the officers had not been arrested on scene. Roden referred any further questions to the Iron County Attorney’s Office.
Later, a call by The Independent to several of the Cedar City Councilmen to inquire further as to why the police had not made an arrest finally led to an answer from Police Chief Bob Allison via a text to Mayor Maile Wilson, who then forwarded it to Councilman Fred Rowley.
The text from Allison provided by Rowley to The Independent stated that the department had not arrested the officers since the incident did not happen in front of the police.
“It was handled like any misdemeanor offense not in our presence as far as having it screened for appropriate charges,” Allison texted. “We did a complete, impartial investigation and referred for proper screening.”
The police report stated that no arrest had been made since both Burton and Skeem had refused to press charges against the other and the neighbors had also declined to pursue any charges for disorderly conduct and public intoxication.
The report stated the police officer considered the incident “mutual combat.”
Sheriff Mark Gower, who contacted The Independent about the incident following the completion of the criminal investigation by CCPD, said all information has been sent to Police Officer Standards Training.
Gower told the Independent that he was saddened by the entire incident and the loss of two good officers.
“They have both been great officers,” he said. “I just lost nearly 30 years of law enforcement experience in my office. It’s just a sad day.”
Skeem was employed with the sheriff’s office for 16 years where his responsibilities included field training, patrol, and a recent stint on the Iron County Drug Task Force. Burton served for approximately 10 years in the sheriff’s office fulfilling various roles including serving on the search and rescue team and the K-9 program.
Anyone else would have been arrested and booked! When anyone tells you different, they are lying!
Just the facts!
Absolutely!!
Good thing you have all the facts straight… and good for all of you that judge others and care about what goes on in others lives. If only your private lives were publicized and all of your skeletons were brought out of the closet.
You got it RIGHT! Irresponsible reporting now that we find out who was the aggressor. Wonder why Gower didn’t set said “reporter” straight for this biased story?
“Missy”, I would love for you to show me where this article is biased since everything came completely off of a police report almost verbatim but you probably haven’t bothered to GRAMA that information to confirm it. In addition, prior to publication Sheriff Gower and I actually went over my story together to make sure it was factually accurate so I’m sure if he felt it was biased he would have said so. You also need to know there were things I specifically left out of this article that were in the police report, some of them since reported in other publications, in order to not hurt other people that were there that night and to not air these peoples dirty laundry. If I was so “biased” I could have easily done that since it is in the police report and it is a matter of public record. So no the sheriff, knowing the whole story and knowing what I didn’t report in order to try and save these people as little embarrassment as possible, did not feel it was biased. In fact he felt just the opposite and you would know that had you taken the time to call him but like the police report you are assuming you know the details and you know the situation and because you “Missy” hate me so bad you want to make everything personal and slander and libel and blast me any chance you get and then you don’t even have the courage to put your name on it so the rest of the world can know who you are but I do know who you are. I at least have the courage to stand by what I write.