Family of Utah's Lt. governor escapes with minor injuries after bull gets loose at county fair

SPANISH FORK, Utah (KUTV) — The mother and brother of Utah’s lieutenant governor sustained minor injuries Thursday evening when a bull got loose in a parking area at the Utah County Fair.

Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson first tweeted about the incident Friday morning, saying her family members were “chased, knocked down & stepped on” by the animal at the fairgrounds in Spanish Fork. Fair organizers said it happened just before 9:20 p.m.

“They’re pretty shaken (and I’m pretty pissed),” Henderson wrote.

Jeremy Hulse, Henderson’s brother, told KUTV 2News he and his mother, who is in her 70s, had attended the rodeo to watch some family members compete in barrel racing. They left early, Hulse said, and were in the participant parking area when they started walking back toward the arena to look for someone.

“All of a sudden I just saw this freaking bull just bucking right toward us,” Hulse said. “He was just going nuts.”

Hulse said he was hit by the bull’s backside and pushed into a truck while trying to help protect his mother. He said his mother was able to get inside another participant’s vehicle while rodeo cowboys tried to corral the bull.

“I realized about maybe five minutes later that my foot hurt,” Hulse said. “I got stepped on apparently.”

He said his foot was bruised, while his mother sustained bruising and minor injuries on her arms.

Craig Conover, Utah County Fair co-director, told KUTV 2News this was “just a complete accident.” He said the bull had just participated in the rodeo when the animal hit a gate at the end of the arena and it opened, leading the bull into the parking area.

Conover estimated the bull was loose for roughly three minutes before rodeo riders got the animal under control.

“Rodeo guys were right on it and caught him and got him back,” Conover said. “We didn’t know anybody got hurt or anything like that.”

Lt. Gov. Henderson told KUTV 2News she was “in shock trying to figure out how this could happen.” She later said she was contacted by Utah County Commissioner Tom Sakievich who promised to check the gate and ensure it is fixed immediately.

"We’ll likely do some tests on this gate and go from there," Sakievich told KUTV 2News, standing near the gate on the fairgrounds where the incident happened. "Do we have to do a redesign? I don’t know if that has to be, but we’ll take a look where that goes."

Henderson noted, “Our family loves rodeos and this certainly won’t deter us in the future. But hopefully these incidents result in greater safety awareness.”

As for Hulse, he said he’s still replaying the scary ordeal in his mind.

“Definitely in retrospect,” Hulse said, “[I] don’t know how the hell we got out of there.”

This is not the first rodeo safety incident in Utah this year. During the recent Days of '47 Rodeo in Salt Lake City, a bull jumper was injured when he fell and was run over by the animal. The day before, another bull escaped the main arena into the backstage area. No one was hurt.