Foul-mouthed Utah lawmaker is filmed trying to bully cops into freeing his convicted burglar son

A county commissioner in southeast Utah was caught on film threatening and scolding a deputy sheriff for arresting his son after Thanksgiving.

On November 25, 2022, San Juan County Commissioner Bruce Adams was called to retrieve his son’s car after Kenneth Adams was taken to jail on an outstanding warrant related to a 2020 burglary conviction.

Upon learning of his son’s arrest, he had a dramatic breakdown and was filmed threatening to escalate the incident with the sheriff himself.

Kenneth was pulled over at a regular stop for not signaling and coming to a complete stop at a stop sign.

An irate Bruce Adams arrives to retrieve his son’s car and interrogate the sheriff’s deputies about the details of the warrant, which he believes is false.

County Commissioner Bruce Adams is interviewed after his son’s arrest and tense interactions with local sheriff’s deputies.

The SUV was stopped by San Juan County Deputy Sheriff Braden Giddings, who then informed Kenneth that he would be sent to jail because of the warrant.

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

In a law enforcement report that followed the incident, Holyoke wrote that upon arriving on the scene, longtime County Commissioner Bruce Adams was not at all pleased.

‘[Bruce Adams] came up to me and said that he wanted to see immediately “Mother, motherfucking warrant,” he wrote.

‘I told [Bruce] I couldn’t show him the personal records on my computer. [Bruce] replied that I’d better show him the damn warrant right now.

‘It seemed to me that [Bruce] tried to use his influence as county commissioner to intimidate me into showing him information that I was not allowed to do.”

On the recording of the incident, Bruce is heard asking where his son is.

– He’s in prison. They took him,” Holyoke said.

Have you put him in jail yet? said Adams, asking why they would do it.

“For a warrant,” Holyoke replied.

Whom should I call to find out? Adams boomed. – You are a policeman. Tell me who I’m going to call to find out why he’s in jail.

‘What do you want me to do?’ Holyoke asked an angry Adams.

“I want you to let him go,” he said.

“I can’t let him go, Bruce,” Holyoke replied, saying that only the court had the power to do so, given the nature of the warrant.

The warrant, Adams insisted, was false, as his son had dealt with the legal consequences of a burglary charge years earlier.

“The warrant isn’t fake,” Holyoke said. – The order is here.

It was then that Adams uttered what sounded like a threat.

“You want me to sue the county sheriff who is kidnapping my son because he arrested my child on a false warrant?” Adams asked.

“The warrant is here,” Holyoke said. – This is not a lie.

Kenneth Adams being arrested and sent to jail on November 25, 2022

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

As it was eventually revealed, the warrant was for some missing documents relating to the 2020 Kenneth Adams case, which were eventually settled. Last week, the court returned the $150 used to ransom Adams that night.

After the footage was released and the exchange went public, Bruce Adams met with local station KUTV 2News 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 ashamed to act like this. I feel bad that I did it. But I was emotional.”

He said that he sincerely believed there was a problem with the warrant and that he did not believe he was acting as a commissioner during the exchange.

“No one addressed me as Commissioner Adams during the incident,” he said. “In my opinion, I acted like a father.”

The reporter noted that as an elected official, Adams never rests in office and always behaves like an extension of his office.

He agreed: “Absolutely. Don’t agree with this.

Adams noted that he has since apologized to the sheriff’s office, although their office’s report does not mention anything 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.”