CEDAR CITY – Police chased a suspect for several blocks Saturday after he allegedly assaulted a man while in the parking lot of a hardware store.
Cedar City Police arrested 34-year-old Steven Adam Gross after chasing him on foot from 165 S. Main Street to around 225 E. 70 South.
The incident occurred around 3 p.m. when the suspect reportedly walked up to a car parked in the Ace Hardware parking lot with three men in it and punched the driver.
According to Cedar City Police Sgt. Jerry Womack, Gross asked the men for a ride and when they told him no, he grabbed the driver’s cell phone. When the driver demanded it back, Gross swung at him.
A law enforcement agent from the Department of Natural Resources happened to be in the Ace Hardware parking lot at the time, witnessed the assault, and started walking toward the scene. When Gross saw him, he took off, Womack said, and started running.
While officers were searching for the suspect, police taped off the area from 200 South to College Avenue and from 200 East to 300 East. They ultimately found Gross in the backyard of a home near East Elementary, located at 225 E. 70 South – about five or six blocks away from where the incident started, Womack said.
The men in the car reported to police that they didn’t know Gross. However, during an interview with Cedar City News after the incident, one of the men said he thought the driver had “done some work in the past” for Gross.
Emergency crews were put on standby at the time of the initial report but were later released when the driver reported minor injuries.
Gross was arrested without incident and booked into the Iron County Correctional Facility where he faces two Class B misdemeanors of assault and criminal trespass, a second-degree felony for robbery, and a Class A misdemeanor for failure to stop at the command of a police officer.
Gross’ bail has not yet been set by a judge. Womack said the incident is under investigation.
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