Hot story had teeny, tiny flaw

The story that went out over the national wires had all the earmarks of 'roid rage.

"Star Athlete Goes Berserk in Provo, Utah, Attacks Pedestrian With Mop."

Media outlets from coast to coast — including this one — couldn't resist picking up on the police report alleging that on June 14, Kyle Perry, 23, an All-American distance runner for BYU, almost ran his car into a pedestrian pushing a mop bucket in a downtown Provo crosswalk, then got out and proceeded to assault the bewildered pedestrian with his own mop.

Jim Rome, the nationally syndicated radio talk show host and champion smack artist, milked it for a full four minutes of radio air time. "You never know when a track star might use one of your mops against you," he said.

Only one problem.

The story wasn't true.

Not the juicy parts, at any rate. For one thing, there were no mops involved. For another, Perry claimed in court this week that he was the one who was assaulted after he braked to avoid pedestrian Thomas Wellington, who was weaving a bucket of window-washing tools through Center Street traffic.

It's Perry's contention that Wellington pushed his bucket in anger into Perry's stopped car and, once Perry got out to see what was going on, came after him with a telescopic pole, striking him over the head, causing Perry to push Wellington away in self-defense. At that point Perry's fiancee, who was with him, called police and handed the phone to Perry, who guided them to the scene.

So it was the person who wound up being charged with assault and spent the night in jail who got the cops involved in the first place.

Perry's side of the story finally came to light in a preliminary hearing Tuesday, where Wellington decided he didn't want to press charges after all and the Utah County Attorney's Office dismissed the case.

Officially, in the eyes of the law, Kyle Perry is guilty of nothing. But it took him two months of his summer and thousands of dollars in attorney's fees to defend himself.

Relieved that it's finally over — other than getting his good name fully back — Perry remains confused as to why police and prosecutors rushed so quickly to judgment. Why did they put so much stock in witnesses who saw Perry push Wellington but apparently didn't see Wellington come after Perry in the first place? Why did they not pay more attention to the accounts of Perry and the two companions who were with him?