A Utah county commissioner was caught on camera threatening a sheriff's deputy over his son's arrest and demanding to see the warrant.
San Juan County Commissioner Bruce Adams's son, Kenneth, was arrested on Nov. 25, 2022, on a warrant related to a burglary conviction in 2020. Recently released video footage from a local outlet shows the commissioner yelling at the sheriff's deputy after he arrived to claim his son's vehicle.
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Kenneth Adams was pulled over in his SUV by San Juan County Sheriff's Deputy Brayden Giddings, who informed him he would be going to jail. Giddings and Deputy Wyatt Holyoak are recorded discussing whether or not to release the vehicle to the commissioner.
Holyoak wrote in a law enforcement incident report that Bruce Adams was not pleased.
"[Bruce Adams] approached me and stated that he wanted to see the ‘Motherf***ing warrant right away," Holyoak said. "I told [Bruce] I could not show him personal returns on my computer. [Bruce] replied that I better show him the goddamn warrant right away."
"It appeared to me that [Bruce] was trying to use his influence as a County Commissioner to intimidate me into showing him information that I was not permitted to do," Holyoak continued in his report.
Bruce Adams was unhappy to discover his son was already in jail by the time he arrived to pick up his vehicle.
"Who do I call to find out?" Adams said. "You’re a police officer. Tell me who I call to find out why he’s in jail."
The commissioner kept reiterating that the warrant was "false" because he claimed his son had dealt with the legal implications of the burglary charge years ago.
"The warrant’s not false," Holyoak said in response. "The warrant’s right there." This ignited the commissioner, who began shouting at the sheriff's deputies.
"Do you want me to sue the son-of-a-b**** county sheriff because he arrested my kid on a false warrant?" Bruce Adams said.
The warrant ended up relating to missing documents pertaining to Kenneth Adams's 2020 case. Last week, the court returned the $150 bail used to bail Kenneth Adams out that night the video was taken.
Bruce Adams publicly apologized for his behavior that night on the local KUTV 2 News station. He told the outlet that he called the sheriff the next day to apologize.
"It’s embarrassing. It’s embarrassing for me to act that way," Bruce Adams said. "I feel bad that I did that. But I was emotional."
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He said, at the time, he believed there was an issue with the warrant and did not use his position as commissioner in any way during the dispute.
"Nobody addressed me as Commissioner Adams at any time during the incident," the commissioner said. "In my opinion, I was acting as a father."