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The mother of Darrien Hunt — the sword-carrying man shot and killed in September by Saratoga Springs police — is now facing misdemeanor criminal charges for an alleged dustup with officers from the same police department that fatally wounded her son, state court records show.
Susan Hunt was charged Wednesday in Saratoga Springs Justice Court with four counts: interference with an arresting officer, a class B misdemeanor; and failure to disperse and driving on a denied license, both class C misdemeanors. The 51-year-old mother is also charged with one count of disorderly conduct, an infraction.
A judge also issued a summons for Hunt to appear at a Jan. 23, 2015, arraignment hearing before Judge Carolyn Howard, the court docket shows.
The misdemeanors are punishable by jail terms of six months and three months, respectively. An infraction is punishable by fines, but no imprisonment.
Hunt's attorney, Robert Sykes, told The Salt Lake Tribune he was unaware of the charges Friday afternoon.
The charges were brought by city prosecutors in Lehi, not Saratoga Springs where the alleged incident occurred and where 22-year-old Darrien Hunt was shot and killed. A telephone message left with the Lehi City Prosecutor's Office was not immediately returned on Friday.
The Tribune was unable to access any court documents detailing the specific grounds for the charges, as the papers were not posted on the Utah State Courts website and the justice court clerk's office was closed on Friday afternoon.
In a Nov. 1 story published by the Tribune, Saratoga Springs police spokesman Owen Jackson confirmed Hunt was being investigated by Utah County sheriff's deputies for an Oct. 19 incident with two city police officers in a Wal-Mart parking lot. The findings of the investigation were referred back to Saratoga Springs police and the city's prosecutor to consider any potential charges.
Jackson declined to provide any details about Hunt's interactions with police. However, according to a KUTV news report of the incident, Hunt allegedly pulled up behind two officers who were conducting an unrelated traffic stop and began to verbally and physically assault them.
The incident came more than a month after the Sept. 10 shooting that left Darrien Hunt dead from six gunshot wounds, after allegedly lunging at police with a Samurai-style sword.
Utah County prosecutors cleared the two officers involved in the shooting — Cpl. Matt Schauerhamer and Officer Nicholas Judson — of any wrongdoing on Nov. 3, citing the officers' claim that they feared Hunt posed a public threat.
Sykes and Susan Hunt have alleged the shooting amounted to an excessive use of force, since Darrien Hunt was running from police when he was shot. The family also has raised the issue of the deceased's biracial background as figuring into the outcome.