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A Millard County man says officers were "outrageous, intolerable, and offended generally accepted standards of decency and morality" when they shot at, wounded and arrested him after a July 2014 attempted traffic stop, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.
George J. Finlinson, 44, of Oak City — who says he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia at the time — alleges that officers tried to pull him over after family members and a counselor requested to have him involuntarily committed for emergency psychiatric treatment, the lawsuit states. Finlinson, however, didn't stop his truck because he feared the police were "out to kill him."
Instead, he turned onto a dirt road in Millard County with a dead end; while trying to get away, charging documents state, Finlinson turned around and crashed into several deputies' vehicles. He also allegedly attempted to run over a deputy who was on foot.
Officers, who say they feared for their safety, fired shots at Finlinson's truck, attempting to blow out the tires. When that didn't work, the lawsuit states, they shot at Finlinson, apparently hitting him six times. His car rolled into an irrigation ditch, where deputies subdued him with a stun gun.
Finlinson was taken to a nearby hospital and transferred to a mental health facility, where doctors prescribed medication for his illness. When he was released from the hospital, the lawsuit states, an officer with Utah County Sheriff's Office arrested and placed Finlinson in solitary confinement, where he says he was deprived of his clothes, glasses and prescriptions for three months.
When he was deemed competent to proceed with the charges against him, Finlinson pleaded guilty to five counts of aggravated assault and the other charges against him were dismissed (including two counts of attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony). He was sentenced to five years of probation in June 2015.
Now he wants the law enforcement officers and agencies involved with the incident — Millard County, Millard County Sheriff's Office, Adult Probation and Parole, Utah County Sheriff's Office and various deputies — to compensate him for damages and emotional distress.
Finlinson contends that officers who pulled him over knew he had mental health concerns and acted without regard to his plight, the lawsuit states, "causing [him] to become paranoid, scared and fearful for his life." He also alleges that the deputies used excessive force that was "clearly unreasonable."
Finlinson was mistreated in solitary confinement, he says, and was unlawfully in custody for nine months without medication so he wouldn't be competent for trial. He seeks unspecified compensation in U.S. District Court.
Attempts to contact Millard County for comment were not returned Wednesday evening. The Salt Lake Tribune spoke to Utah County spokesman Spencer Cannon, who referred questions to the sheriff, who also was not available for comment.
Twitter: @CourtneyLTanner