UPDATE: HIGHWAY 40 NOW REOPENED.
The Uintah County Sheriff’s Office provided an update on Friday afternoon concerning Thursday’s officer-involved critical incident that shut down two blocks of Vernal’s Main Street. “The officers involved in Thursday night’s critical incident suffered no physical injuries,” shares the Sheriff’s Office. “The individual who was taken into custody is a 16-year-old male who is on probation with the state Division of Juvenile Justice Services. The juvenile was treated at the hospital after being bitten by a police K-9 during the incident. He was then booked into Split Mountain Youth Detention Center in Vernal. There is no ongoing threat to the public. A Vernal police officer fired shots at the juvenile. No one was struck by the officer’s shots.” The Utah County Officer-Involved Critical Incident Team is investigating the incident since Vernal PD officers and Uintah County Sheriff’s deputies were both involved. Main Street in Vernal was closed after the incident from 500 West to 700 West until about 1:20pm on Friday to preserve the integrity of the crime scene. There is no ongoing threat to the public from this incident.
