Meagan Fights with Jerry
Angel and Meagan are watching a movie. Jerry does not like the idea of Angel being in the company of his daughter and keeps checking on them. He eventually asks Angel to leave. This makes Meagan very upset, and they start to argue. Meagan then punches a hole in the wall. To diffuse the situation Angel leaves and gets into his car and drives away. Meagan then punches Jerry which causes him to fall down the stairs on the front porch. Meagan then rips the screen off the front door as she returns to the house.
At 9:40 pm three officers from the Draper Police department arrived at the Grunwald home in response to a call about a domestic in progress.1 Meagan and Tori were outside the residence when the officers arrived. Meagan was on the phone and Tori came and met one of the officers on the driveway. Tori indicated to the officer that Jerry was still inside the residence.
Officer Sullivan interviews Tori and Megan outside the residence and Officer Newman goes into the house to interview Jerry. It is standard procedure for domestic disturbance calls to send several officers so that interviews can be done separately. Officer Sullivan in his testimony in court also indicated that this residence has been flagged so that at least two officers always respond when a call is made from that residence. Jerry has been flagged by the Draper Police as being combative or hostile with local police officers.
Tori indicated to Officer Sullivan that Meagan had been arguing with Jerry about Angel. The argument was over the age gap between Angel and Meagan. Meagan got upset and started arguing verbally with Jerry. Angel said he was just going to leave to diffuse the situation. Meagan got more violent and punched holes in the wall and when Angel left Meagan pushed Jerry down the front stairs and then ripped the screen off the front door.
Meagan was confrontational with the officers during her interview and had to calm down several times during the interview with Officer Sullivan. During the interview with Officer Sullivan, she stated that she started to argue with Jerry because he wanted Angel to leave the residence. She then said that when Angel said he was going to leave she freaked out and began to punch holes in the walls. Officer Sullivan noted that her knuckles were bruised and bloody. After Angel left the residence, Meagan said she pushed Jerry causing him to fall down the steps of the front porch. She then told Officer Sullivan that she ripped the screen out of the front door. Meagan refused to have fire and rescue come take care of her knuckles.
Tori gave Officer Newman permission to go into the house to talk to Jerry. Officer Newman found Jerry in the master bedrooms bathroom with the door closed. Jerry was upset that the police were there and was afraid that Tori and Meagan would twist things so he would get arrested. Officer Newman calmed down Jerry and he came out of the bathroom to talk to him. Jerry explained that Meagan was only 17 years old and that she wants a 26-year-old man to move in with him and his wife Tori. He stated that he is not comfortable with a 26-year-old man staying at his house with his daughter. Tori on the other hand believes it will be ok for the man to move in. He said that Meagan and Angel were in Meagan’s bedroom with the door closed, so he opened the door and would periodically open the door and check on them making sure there wasn’t anything happening he didn’t approve of. After Jerry did this a couple of times Meagan came out of the room cursing at him and started punching the wall next to her room.
Jerry was not asked to leave, but he decided that it would be best for him to leave the situation. He was told by the officers that he could return if he wished, but if he did and things got uncivil again to give them another call.
As Jerry was getting ready to leave, Tori was talking to Officer Newman and asked him how she could get a restraining order against Jerry for his actions tonight.2 He asked what she meant. She believes that the incident only occurred because of Jerry and that it was his fault. She stated that it is understandable that Meagan got so upset that she punched the wall. Officer Newman explained to her that Meagan is a juvenile and because of that Jerry as a parent has the right to refuse allowing an adult man to stay in their home. Tori said she did not see an issue because Meagan is a good person and would not do anything with the man.
Meagan was not taken out of the house, but Jerry agreed to leave the house to help defuse the situation. The officer noted that the reason for the tantrum was that Jerry made Angel leave, and because Jerry had left the residence, he did not feel there was any need to take Meagan to a detention center. Meagan was cited for criminal mischief and domestic assault for pushing Jerry down the stairs and punching holes in the walls.
Meagan Learns Angel’s Real Age
Up to this point Meagan only knew that Angel was significantly older than she was, or that is what she wanted to believe. In her testimony at her trial, she noted that she did not learn his real age until she saw his driver’s license “around November, December time3.” He asked her to get something out of his wallet. She recounts the conversation as going like this. “Are you sure?” Angel responds, “Yeah.” As she opens his wallet, she looks at his ID and sees his birth date. She then questions him about it later. “Why did you like lie to me about your like date? I just — I asked you a simple, honest answer – like question, and you couldn’t reply with me to an honest answer.” Meagan stated that she still loved him at that time and did not want to end the relationship after she knew the age difference.
- Sullivan, Crime Report R17319439 ↩︎
- Case History, Draper City v Jerry Dean Grunwald ↩︎
- Trial Transcript, State of Utah v. Meagan Grunwald, May 6, 2015, 1556. ↩︎
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Next: 13.0 – Story Progresses
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