Lehi chase ends with a shootout

"He told me he was going to kill me right in front of my parents' house," she wrote. "Art has made many other threats . . . so many I couldn't possibly remember them all. This has been going on for 14 years."

A judge granted the protective order, but two days later she requested it be dismissed because the divorce "would go smoother" and because she didn't believe she was in any danger. Fourth District Court Judge James R. Taylor refused.

"It is simply incredible that 14 years of that kind of abuse can be resolved in less than 72 hours," he wrote in documents denying her request.

The allegations of violence extended beyond Art Henderson's family.

In March, Henderson was convicted by a Utah County Justice Court jury of a class B misdemeanor of simple assault for an altercation in June 2004 with another man. He was sentenced to pay a $957 fine. The altercation led then-Lehi Police Chief Chad Smith to fire Henderson.

Henderson's lawyer, Ed Brass, said Henderson was planning to enter a guilty plea in a new trial triggered by Henderson's appeal. A plea deal is on hold, prosecutor Matt Lloyd said.

"All plea negotiations are off and we are just going to set it out for further proceedings," Lloyd added. "We will address the case on appeal once the (new) case proceeds a bit."

Brass said he is willing to continue representing Henderson.

"Art is a troubled man; I wouldn't want to let him down at this point when he really needs help," Brass said. "Since I began representing him . . . he's been a decent, honest person. Obviously, he's troubled on a level I didn't understand."

Bryson said it may be two weeks before formal criminal charges are filed, as the Utah County Attorney's Office wades through mounds of evidence and interviews several witnesses. Prior to working as a Lehi officer, Henderson was a correctional deputy with the Utah County Sheriff's Office from September 1998 to July 2000, said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Darren Gilbert. He worked almost exclusively at the jail.

The first officer on the scene Friday was Owens, who Paul said "was an officer with Art, and friends with him outside of work, besides. They had been friends before they started working together on the force."

Henderson shot at Owens, Paul said, putting a bullet hole in the upper right corner of the front windshield of patrol car No. 67. Owens backed out of the line of fire, then confronted Henderson with officers Tim Hunsaker and Dave Boss.

A former amateur boxer proficient in martial arts, Henderson had been a use-of-force instructor for the Lehi Police Department and is a former SWAT officer. A stray bullet struck a passing SUV carrying a family on its way to breakfast, destroying the windshield. No one was injured, however.

An interagency team that reviews officer-involved shootings launched an investigation at the scene, said Sherry Ragan, chief of the criminal division in the Utah County Attorney's Office.

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