Payson Councilman Arrested

...for assault after defending his truck from graffiti "artists". Should we be able to physically defend our property from vandals?

Here's the Story:

Randall Jeppesen reporting

A Payson man says he was just trying to stop some graffiti artists, but now he's charged with assault.

If you saw someone putting graffiti on your truck, what would you do?

Payson City Councilman Scott Phillips tells The Daily Herald he spotted two teenagers tagging his truck and a building on May 10 near 800 East and 100 North in Payson. He grabbed them by the back of the neck and told them to "get out of here."

A councilman for more than two years, Phillips says he did grab the men, but he didn't strike or hit them.

Now Phillips has been charged with two counts of misdemeanor assault and is scheduled to appear in court on July 3.

Phillips tells the newspaper it's pretty sad when you can't defend your own property.

E-mail: rjeppesen@ksl.com

(The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

The 10 O'Clock Rundown

Doug doesn’t condone theft, but he understands it. They want something they don’t have. What he doesn’t understand is graffiti. He can’t understand somebody walking up with a spray can and feeling their artistic license gives then the right to express themselves on his property. What gives these idiots the idea that they have that right? It gets worse:

A Payson city councilman, Scott Phillips, has been accused of two counts of misdemeanor assault after stopping a couple of kids from tagging his car and a nearby building. He didn’t strike the kids. He just grabbed them by the scuff of the neck and told them to stop. Doug concedes that as ridiculous as this is, if somebody’s stupid enough to tag cars and walls, they’re probably stupid enough to believe nobody has a right to physically stop them.

Doug and one caller agreed: what those kids needed was a good walloping. What was Phillips supposed to do when paint is spewing from the can onto his car?

One caller said she had two boys who vandalized a neighbor’s car a few years ago. She sent them to their rooms and called the police. They paid for the damages. Doug told her she handled it exactly right. What if someone had stopped her kids and she had taken that person to court?

Rosanne, a friend of Phillips, said anyone would have done what he would have done, and probably more. Rosanne said Phillips is a great man and father, and was extremely gentle in how he handled the situation. How many others would show the same restraint?