Couple shot by tribal officer in Duchesne County speak about 2022 shooting, sentencing

Описание: A couple shot and injured in Duchesne County by a Ute Indian Tribe Fish and Wildlife Officer in July 2022 spoke about the incident for the first time after a federal judge sentenced the officer.

Chad and Chelsea Young were on their first date on July 17, 2022.

“We went on a side-by-side ride, and we were just out trying to have fun and go on a scenic drive,” Chelsea said.

The pair was driving in the Uinta Canyon area in Duchesne County.

”There's a strip of reservation land that runs through the middle of that, and we were just crossing through to the Forest Land,” Chad said of the first time the couple had contact with Ute Tribe Officer Waneka Cornpeach. “We pulled up and noticed that there's a whole bunch of kids and their parents getting citations on the bridge. We were kind of wondering what was going on, and as we pulled up, she stopped us, and we didn't think anything of it, and she informed us that we were on tribal land and that she was going to seize our vehicle.”

Chad said he reached for his identification, and the officer pointed her gun at his head.

“When she pulled her gun to his head, he pushed it away, told me to start the side-by-side, and I reached over, and I did because it's kind of a fight or flight kind of reaction, and then we took off,” Chelsea said.

Chad and Chelsea drove away from the officer, who fired shots.

“We heard several shots. Chelsea felt the bullet go through her hair, and it bounced off the crossbar of the side-by-side,” Chad said.

“It was shortly after that that I got shot,” Chelsea said. “It was kind of like in the movies when you hear that ringing sound. That's like all there was, and my arm fell down in my lap, and I couldn't move it anymore, and I started screaming, ‘She shot my arm off, it’s barely hanging here.’”

Both Chad and Chelsea were shot. Chad turned the side-by-side around and drove back toward the officer.

“I turned around, and she had a gun drawn on me still, and I got out of the side-by-side, and she was ordering commands at me, and I basically just collapsed in the road right there,” Chad said. “I don’t really remember a whole lot after that.”

Neither Chad nor Chelsea was armed during the ordeal, as confirmed in a recorded conversation on body camera video from a responding Duchesne County Sheriff's Office deputy.

Ute Tribe Officer Cornpeach rendered first aid on Chad and Chelsea until others arrived, including local county deputies and EMS personnel.

“I was losing a lot of blood,” Chad said. “I mean, I basically died in the helicopter twice, and they brought me back to life.”

Chad and Chelsea said they both still think about what happened that day. Both said they have lasting nerve damage — Chelsea in her arm and Chad in his rib area.

The couple married in 2024.

“My personal opinion, I think she had a personal prejudice,” Chad said, responding to a question about why he felt the officer fired her gun.

“I think she was mad because she wasn't able to seize our side-by-side,” Chelsea said in response to the same question. “She felt like she had more power than she actually did, and she was going to use it.”

Officer Cornpeach was sentenced in federal court in Salt Lake City on Nov. 17. Cornpeach was ordered three years in federal prison and three years supervised release following incarceration.