Top Stories Salt Lake City

A man charged with punching a police officer during a Sept. 16 melee at a Salt Lake night spot entered into a plea bargain Tuesday after admitting the crime.

Arnold Pikula, 21, pleaded guilty to assault against a police officer, a class A misdemeanor. In exchange, 3rd District Judge Judith Atherton dismissed misdemeanor charges of sexual battery and interfering with a legal arrest. Pikula will be sentenced Jan. 22.

The charges arose after trouble broke out at the Green Street Social Club, 602 E. 500 South, when Pikula’s brother, John Junior “JJ” Pikula, was celebrating his bachelor party with a group of people.

Rudy Chacon, a narcotics detective for the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office, was also present at the club with a group of friends. Chacon ended up shooting JJ Pikula once in the torso after JJ Pikula allegedly threw Chacon’s brother against a wall, got him on the floor and began beating him. Chacon had feared for his brother’s life and has since been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing by the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors said Arnold Pikula had been harassing women at the club prior to the shooting and there was friction between the two groups. Club security officers tried to move the Pikula group to another part of the club or outside, and that is when JJ Pikula started roughing up Chacon’s brother.

Prosecutors say Arnold Pikula punched a responding police officer in the face, causing him to fall backwards. He also struggled with several officers while resisting arrest.

— Linda Thomson