A man wanted for nearly beating a woman to death and causing disfiguring to her face, according to police, was arrested on Friday.
BLUFFDALE — Police arrested a man Friday who they say nearly beat a woman to death and caused disfiguring to her face.
Timothy James Peterson, 35, of Bluffdale, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping.
Police had been looking for him since Oct. 1 when a Bluffdale officer on patrol noticed a vehicle at Wardle Fields Regional Park, 14148 S. 2700 West, after hours. As the officer approached the car, he noticed Peterson at the back passenger-side door who “appeared to be rocking back and forth as though he was punching something,” according to a Salt Lake County Jail report.
At that time, the officer could not see the woman in the vehicle. But when the officer called out to Peterson to turn around, a woman exited the driver side door screaming and “frantically” tried to get in the officer’s patrol car, the report states.
The officer “noticed her face appeared to be disfigured,” blood was running down her face from her eyes, nose and mouth and her clothes were “saturated with blood,” police wrote.
Peterson ran from the officer through the park where the officer lost sight of him.
The woman told police that Peterson, whom she was estranged from, “had been beating her all day long,” the report states. Doctors determined her injuries were “extensive,” and her teeth and lips would require reconstructive surgery.
“The physician mentioned (the woman) was lucky to be alive,” the report states.
Among her many injuries, the woman’s ears were partially detached from her head, according to the probable cause statement, and “her head was deformed because of the swelling around her skull. Her teeth were jagged and broken.”
Investigators determined the woman had been assaulted for at least eight hours.
Police found Peterson at a hotel in Murray on Friday and arrested him.
Peterson, who has a lengthy criminal history, made headlines in 2014 when he was shot by a West Jordan police officer.
Peterson had violated a protective order and had threatened online to either shoot officers or attempt “suicide by cop.” An officer spotted Peterson in a parking lot near 7037 S. Plaza Center Dr. (3800 West). When the officer approached him, he ran and tossed a grocery sack and an object later discovered to be a large knife, according to investigators.
With the officer in pursuit, Peterson turned and pulled out a piece of metal that was bent to look like a gun. The shooting was determined to be legally justified and Peterson was charged with assaulting an officer. A jury, however, later acquitted him of that charge.
