Cedar City council hears resident account of explosive device, approves zone changes, annexation and budget revisions

A Cedar City resident told the City Council on Sept. 24 that an improvised explosive device was thrown from a pickup truck toward his vehicle and urged police and prosecutors to pursue the driver and those manufacturing the devices. The council then moved through a consent agenda and approved several ordinances and resolutions covering land use, personnel, the budget and the city’s investment policy.

The resident, Eric Bergson, described the July 5 incident near 1045 across from the skate park in which he said an object “was fusing in front of me… it exploded immediately behind me.” He told the council he followed the pickup, got a license plate to report to 911, and later learned a 14-year-old juvenile had been detained while the driver was not charged. “I was assaulted by way of a improvised explosive device,” Bergson said, and asked the city and police to investigate where the devices were procured and to pursue the adult driver he said was complicit.

Officer Jimmy Road of the Cedar City Police Department told the council the department investigated, interviewed multiple witnesses, charged the person who deployed the device, and that person was convicted and sentenced. Road said evidence against a second party was presented to the Iron County Attorney’s Office, which declined to file charges because the prosecutor concluded the burden of proof was not met. “They have a burden of proof that has to be met,” Road said. The council and staff discussed limits of criminal prosecution, the possibility of civil remedies and that an addendum to the police report (Officer Foster’s follow-up) was added while the…