SALON

Dangerous booby traps found on popular Utah trail

Topics: From the Wires,

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Authorities say two booby traps found off a popular Utah trail could have killed someone if they tripped a ground wire set up to send a 20-pound, spiked boulder swinging into an unsuspecting hiker.

Two men were arrested over the weekend on suspicion of misdemeanor reckless endangerment.

Authorities say they were told the traps were intended for wildlife, but investigators don’t believe the story.

Utah County sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon says one trip wire was set up to swing the rock with foot-long wooden spikes at head level. Another was designed to trip a passer-by into a bed of wooden stakes.

The traps were found last week by a U.S Forest Service officer on patrol in the area about 50 miles south of Salt Lake City.

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