What exactly happened in the July 23 incident is in dispute. The arrestee, Anthony Thomas Vega, 38, of Ogden, yelled that the officer, Curtis Ricks, punched him in the mouth. Ricks, a South Ogden Police Department patrol sergeant told Vega he had pushed him on both the audio recording of the incident and in his written report of the arrest

Asked Wednesday about the confrontation, South Ogden City officials said the incident is being looked into.

According to South Ogden and Riverdale officers’ body camera feeds and officers’ written reports, police from the two cities were at the Riverdale Motel 6 investigating several people, including Vega, for alleged drug possession and dealing. Ricks was interviewing Vega with a Utah Adult Probation and Parole Division agent inside a ground-floor room, the door open and other officers and two seated suspects just outside in the parking lot.

The Standard-Examiner obtained the recordings and incident reports this week with public records requests.

Image supplied, South Ogden Police Department

After Vega gave his address to the parole agent, Ricks said, “We can go over to his house.” Vega, seated, turned to look up at Ricks, stared for a few seconds, and said, “Go ahead.” Ricks responded, “Well, I know we can.”

In a raised voice, Vega addressed Ricks asking, “Do we got a problem here, huh?” He pointed over at the AP&P agent and told Ricks, “I’m being respectful and you’re coming at me like this.”

“I’ll quit talking anytime you want,” Ricks said. “You do not intimidate me,” the officer said, adding something unintelligible.

Vega stood, saying loudly, “I don’t care if I intimidate you or not.” As Vega stood, the view from Ricks’s body camera became only of the white shirt Vega was wearing. In his report, Ricks said Vega was about 12 inches in front of him.

Ricks and the parole agent repeatedly told Vega in stern voices, “Sit down” and “Sit.” Then a crash was heard and Vega is seen toppling back over the chair.

Video screengrab, South Ogden Police Department

Ricks moved to stand over Vega and said, “There you go. Do you want to stand up and square off with me again? We’re not going to play your stupid games.”

Ricks lifted Vega to his feet and the AP&P agent asked Vega another question, but Ricks said, “Just get him in the car and get him to jail.”

As Vega was led by the arm into the parking lot, he shouted at the other officers, “You all going to let him get away with this? He punched me in my mouth.”

Ricks had another officer take a photo of Vega’s face, which the officer said had no marks.

Vega continued to protest while Ricks said, “I didn’t punch you in your mouth. You’d know it if I did.”

Video screengrab, South Ogden Police Department

Pointing to Vega’s upper chest or lower throat area, Ricks said, “I pushed you right there.”

In his written report, Ricks said Vega “became enraged” and stood when Ricks said that officers might go to his house. “He started to posture with me in an aggressive manner,” Ricks said. “His nostrils were starting to flare and his jaw was clenching as he began to challenge me.”

Ricks wrote that as Vega refused to sit down and stepped toward him, “I pushed Anthony back using my right hand. This put Anthony back in his chair and it tipped over.”

A Riverdale officer who was just outside the room said he “heard a crashing sound” and looked into the room and “observed the male falling over the chair and onto the floor.” The officer said he went in and asked the officers if they were OK “and to make sure there was not going to be any further altercation.”

The Riverdale officer wrote that “due to the allegation of Ricks punching Anthony,” he notified his supervisor of the matter at the start of his shift the next day. He said he and the supervisor reviewed his body camera video. “I observed Sgt. Ricks swing and strike Anthony with his right hand,” the Riverdale officer wrote.

Video screengrab, South Ogden Police Department

The AP&P agent’s probable cause statement, filed in 2nd District Court as the basis for arresting and holding Vega, detailed the motel room search, Vega’s alleged admission of having and distributing narcotics, and his arrest and jail booking. However, the statement did not mention Ricks, including his involvement in the room search and the confrontation.

A copy of the parole agent’s separate incident report was obtained this week from AP&P via a public records request. The heavily redacted document listed Ricks and four other officers as being involved in the arrests, but did not mention Ricks again or anything about a confrontation and Vega being propelled over his chair. The Standard-Examiner has appealed the redaction to determine whether any of the blacked-out narrative concerned the incident in question.

South Ogden City Manager Matt Dixon said Wednesday that the matter had not risen to his attention. He said police officials would respond to queries about the case. “We certainly don’t take these things lightly,” Dixon said, including “proper use of force.” He added, “We are proud of the quality of police service we provide.”

Efforts to contact the police lieutenant responsible for reviewing such matters were not immediately successful.

Vega was charged on July 29 with two counts of first-degree felony possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute and a second-degree felony count of possession. He is held without bail in the Weber County Jail. Court records show that Vega was sentenced to probation in June for a 2020 narcotics case.

Efforts to contact Vega were not immediately successful. His court-appointed attorney, Gage Crowther, had no comment.