Ex-officer kills himself in jail cell

PROVO — Clad in an inmate jumpsuit, Art Henderson sat alone in a cell.

For 47 hours, he had nothing but concrete walls to keep him company.

Every two days, he was allowed to leave the cell for one hour to shower and make phone calls.

That was Henderson's life in maximum security at Salt Lake Metro Jail.

Alone in his cell Wednesday night, he hanged himself with a bedsheet.

Henderson, the former Lehi police officer accused of shooting

his estranged wife's boyfriend before having a shootout with Lehi police officers, was miserable in jail, said his attorney, Ed Brass.

"He ex- pressed his inability to handle the conditions under which he was incarcerated — repeatedly," Brass said.

In jail, Henderson had a lot of time to ruminate on his life — a pending second divorce, his wife's new relationship with another man, the revocation of his certification to be a police officer and, if convicted of charges against him, the possibility of life in prison.

The charges in 4th District Court stemmed from a snowy day in January when he chased Natalie Barnes Henderson and her boyfriend, Craig Trimble, down a Lehi street, firing at them.

After ramming the couple's car, Henderson shot Trimble twice, then turned his gun on Lehi officers arriving at the scene in squad cars.

The rampage ended when officers took him down with shots to the knee and foot.

Thoughts of that day's events — and the events that came before and after — may have just been too much for Henderson, Brass said.

"My suspicion is that this is the product of some sort of overwhelming depression," Brass said. "He loved his kids so much — I think he must have been in some dark place that didn't allow him to stop and think about the fact that his kids would lose him."

After the shooting, Henderson spent a night at American Fork Hospital, then was taken to the Salt Lake County Metro Jail, where he had been since. He was not taken to the Utah County Jail because he had previously worked there as a guard.

Upon arrival, Henderson was evaluated for any perceived suicidal tendencies, said Salt Lake County Sheriff Sgt. Paul Jaroscak. He was put on suicide watch but taken off that list in February when health-care personnel believed he was safe to move out of the jail's health service unit.

Henderson was assigned to maximum security because of the severity of the charges and because inmates often retaliate against incarcerated former police officers. He had been charged with five counts of attempted aggravated murder, one count of aggravated assault, another of domestic violence-related criminal mischief and three counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm.

Officials did not notice signs of distress this week, Jaroscak said.