MANTUA, Utah — Mantua police chief Dakota Midkiff has been placed on leave after videos and photos showed his interaction with a 76-year-old man earlier this month.
The images from Oct. 5 show Midkiff arresting Rick Schulze, a retired state wildlife officer who was left bruised and bloodied after the incident.
“He’s one of the nicest guys in town," resident Steve Lowder said of Schulze.
On Wednesday, with his eyes still blackened, Schulze declined to speak with FOX 13 News.
A member of the town council confirmed that Midkiff is currently on paid administrative leave while the episode is investigated, but Mantua officials declined to comment further.
According to a jail booking statement, the police chief responded to a family dispute and was questioning the parents about whether they hit a child. One of the parents was Schulze’s daughter.
When Schulze arrived on the scene, Midkiff told him to leave. Moments later, the chief wrote, he turned around and allegedly found Schulze yelling at him in the driveway.
In the report, Midkiff wrote that Schulze refused to comply with an order to put his hands behind his back, so he “decentralized” the older man and took him to the ground.
Schulze was later booked into the Box Elder County Jail on suspicion of interfering with a peace officer but has yet to be charged with any crimes.
Midkiff previously worked for three-and-a-half years at the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office and a year-and-a-half with the Wendover Police Department
However, minutes obtained from Midkiff’s hiring in 2022 showed a Mantua town council member stating “that he will tell any who ask him not to call Chief Midkiff for help … because he does not think Dakota Midkiff would handle it properly due to his lack of experience. He also said citizens should be fearful…”
Midkiff is the city's fourth police chief in five years.
In 2019, the then-chief was arrested for DUI in his squad car, and two years later a different chief was terminated over a dispute about whether he was writing enough tickets. That chief's replacement was found to have been fired by a previous employer and later resigned, leading to Midkiff’s hiring.
Some residents would like to fix the whole law enforcement system in the small town and are expected to voice their opinions during a council meeting on Thursday.
