The foul-mouthed Utah lawmaker is caught on film trying to get cops to free his convicted burglar son

A southeastern Utah county commissioner was videotaped threatening and berating a sheriff’s deputy over his son’s arrest after Thanksgiving.

On November 25, 2022, San Juan County Commissioner Bruce Adams was called to pick up his son’s car after Kenneth Adams was sent to prison on an outstanding warrant related to a 2020 burglary allegation.

Adams, the younger, had been pulled over at a routine traffic stop for not signaling, coming to a complete stop at a stop sign.

County Commissioner Bruce Adams sits for an interview following the arrest of his son and his tense interaction with local sheriff’s deputies

The SUV was pulled over by San Juan County Deputy Sheriff Brayden Giddings, who then told Kenneth he was going to jail on the warrant.

According to police footage from the night, Giddings and Deputy Wyatt Holyoak put Kenneth in the back seat of the squad car and discussed handing over the SUV to Kenneth’s parents.

In the law enforcement report that followed the incident, Holyoak wrote that longtime county commissioner Bruce Adams was not at all pleased upon his arrival at the scene.

‘[Bruce Adams] came up to me and said he wanted to see the “Mother f—- arrest warrant right away,” he wrote.

‘I said [Bruce] I couldn’t show him personal returns on my computer. [Bruce] replied, I’d better show him the goddamn search warrant right now.

“That’s how it seemed to me [Bruce] tried to use his influence as County Commissioner to intimidate me into showing him information I wasn’t allowed to.’

On the tapes of the incident, Bruce can be heard asking where his son is.

“He is in prison. They took him,’ Holyoak said

‘You took him to jail already?’ said Adams and asked why they did that.

“For an arrest warrant,” Holyoak replied.

“Who should I call to find out?” Adams boomed. ‘You’re a policeman. Tell me who to call to find out why he’s in jail.”

‘What should I do?’ Holyoak asked the angry Adams.

“I want you to let him go,” he said.

“I can’t release him, Bruce,” Holyoak replied, saying that due to the nature of the warrant, only the court had the authority to do so.

Adams insisted the search warrant was false and said his son dealt with the legal implications of the burglary allegations years ago.

“The warrant isn’t wrong,” Holyoak said. “The search warrant will be here soon.”

Then Adams summoned what sounded like a threat.

“You want me to sue the county sheriff for arresting my kid on a bogus warrant?” asked Adams.

“The search warrant’s right here,” Holyoak said. “It is not wrong.”

Kenneth Adams as he is arrested and taken to prison on November 25, 2022

An enraged Bruce Adams arrives to claim his son’s vehicle and quizzes the sheriff’s deputies about the details of the warrant, which he believes is false

Kenneth Adams calls his father as he is being taken to jail after a routine traffic stop on the night of November 25, 2022

As it eventually turned out, the warrant referred to some missing documents related to Kenneth Adams’ 2020 case, which were eventually rectified. Last week, the court returned the $150 that was used to bail Adams out that night.

After the footage was released and the exchange became public, Bruce Adams sat down with a local KUTV 2News broadcaster to apologize for his behavior.

Reporter Daniel Woodruff asked Adams if his behavior on the night of the incident was appropriate.

“No,” Adams said. ‘It’s embarrassing. I’m embarrassed to act like this. I feel bad that I did this. But I was emotional.’

He said he genuinely believed there was a problem with the warrant and did not believe he was acting in his capacity as commissioner during the exchange.

“Nobody addressed me as Commissioner Adams during the incident,” he said. “In my opinion, I acted as a father.”

The reporter noted that as an elected official, Adams is never truly off-duty and always acts like an extension of his office.

He agreed: “Absolutely. Don’t contradict that a bit.’

Adams noted that he has since apologized to the sheriff’s office — though her office’s report mentions nothing of the sort, according to KUTV.

But Adams insisted, “I called the sheriff the next day and said, you know, I shouldn’t have done what I did.”

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk