LEHI — Blood gurgled in the throat of 80-year-old Bob Humes as former Lehi police officer Art Henderson reached his side one morning about two weeks ago.
What Henderson did next saved Humes' life. Humes' wife, Violet, is finding it hard to reconcile that act with what police say Henderson did about 48 hours later — shoot his estranged wife's boyfriend three times and fire several bullets at Lehi police officers.
"We owe him a debt of gratitude," Violet Humes said. "When I finally put two and two together after seeing the news, I couldn't believe it. He was very nice. He must have just snapped."
Henderson's family is struggling to square its own memories of him as a decorated cop and tender father with the events of Jan. 27, the day of the violent rampage that ended when officers took Henderson down with shots to the knees and foot.
A series of interviews with Henderson's brothers and sisters and his estranged wife, Natalie Barnes Henderson, reveal new details about a troubled man battling depression and an addiction to painkillers as he despaired over the loss of his job and marriage.
"There are several things leading up to this that changed the way he used to be," says Annie Martin, one of Henderson's sisters.
Humes may be 80, but he is a veteran logger who built a log home at 65. Henderson was watching from the nearby porch of Brandon Wycherley's home, waiting for his friend to open the door, when a tree branch struck Humes and fell on top of him.
"Art was afraid to move (Humes') head because he was afraid his neck was hurt, but he couldn't lift the log, and Bob was choking to death," Wycherley says. "So he turned his head to the side and got the blood out so he could breathe."
Henderson had someone call an ambulance, then went back to Humes' side.
Violet Humes says Henderson told her he said a prayer for strength, then lifted the branch off Humes.
Doctors thought they might have to operate to relieve pressure from the bleeding in Humes' brain, but it subsided. Humes took 40 stitches to his head and had his shoulder knocked out of joint, but he is home recovering.
"It was just a miracle Art was there," Violet Humes said. "I have a lot to thank him for."
Art and Natalie Henderson were high school sweethearts who met cruising Lehi's Main Street in the mid-1980s. Their relationship included an early divorce and remarriage. It was bumpy, but Art Henderson was a likeable, quiet man with intense pride in his police work, say Natalie Henderson and his brothers and sisters.
His grandfather, Arthur Henderson, had been Orem's police chief. His brother Rick and a brother-in-law are Pleasant Grove police officers.
"That's why Arthur was driven to excel," says another sister, Kathy Kassimis.
Henderson became a sharpshooter and was thrilled to log a perfect score on every portion of the Drug Recognition Exam, Rick Henderson says. He was a boxer and martial arts expert who trained other officers on the use of force and was a member of the SWAT team. He'd had training in forensic science and helped in preparations for public safety during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.
"He loved his career," said Kassimis. "He adored his wife and kids."
The first real sign of trouble developed after Henderson was among the first officers on the scene when Lehi officer Joe Adams was shot in 2001. Adams died the next day.
"That really traumatized Art," Natalie Henderson says.
In July 2003, Henderson badly damaged his left knee during a SWAT training exercise. Doctors inserted two metal rods in his leg, Martin says. He was scheduled to have a total knee replacement.
After the injury, Henderson became addicted to painkillers.
"Everything slid, slid, slid from there," says Natalie Henderson, who filed for a second divorce, which is not final, about a year ago.
A litany of troubles followed the addiction.
First, Henderson put an old friend with a history of conflict with Henderson in a sleeper hold while on duty in spring 2004, Utah County prosecutor Matt Lloyd said. Lehi Police Chief Chad Smith fired him, and a jury convicted him of a class B misdemeanor.
Henderson also struck and threatened Natalie Henderson, according to court documents she filed in February 2005. She feels bad that her argument in support of a protective order was publicized after the shooting.
In 2005, Natalie Henderson says Henderson came to her home and asked her boyfriend, Craig Trimble, to go for a ride with him. She told him not to and called police when Trimble sat on the floor to put on his shoes to leave. Henderson allegedly picked Trimble up off the floor until Trimble agreed to go.
Henderson dropped him off in Draper without injury, Natalie Henderson says, but Henderson remains charged with simple assault and making a terroristic threat, both class B misdemeanors.
In December, Henderson allegedly tussled with Trimble again, Natalie Henderson says. Another class B misdemeanor charge of simple assault is pending, Lloyd said.
Last April, Annie Martin thought she had seen her brother's addiction bottom out and that he was beginning to recover. "He knocked on my door, and by the time I got there, he was sitting in the rain on the porch, sobbing hysterically," she recalls.
She walked with him around her cul-de-sac. "Annie," she recalls him saying, "my life is falling apart. I lost my job. I lost my wife. I don't have anything left."
She'd asked him to get help before, but that day he said he'd do whatever she wanted.
"I don't want to live like this any more," he said. "I've disappointed my family."
An LDS bishop paid for a treatment program. Henderson sank into a deep depression, spending entire days on his parents' couch. Finally, he quit the methadone program cold turkey and suffered withdrawals and severe depression.
Then, Martin says, he started taking pain pills again.
"His identity as a police officer was gone," she says. "His wife was gone. He had to walk away from everything he'd worked for in his life. He couldn't get past the depression."
Henderson's doctor prescribed a new medication for his depression last month.
"For almost two weeks, it was the best he'd looked in a year and a half," Martin says. "His eyes were bright. He didn't look dopey. He was getting back to work with a construction company framing houses. He was helping Mom and Dad. Finally we had something that was working. He said he couldn't understand why he'd ever been depressed."
Soon after, a doctor refused to refill a prescription for tranquilizers Henderson was taking three times a day. The result was anxiety and renewed depression, Martin says. "I don't blame the doctors," she says. "They knew he had a history of overuse."
There were other pressures. During the first week of January, Art's father Bernie Henderson was hospitalized with a serious heart condition. Henderson's infant grandson got the flu and needed an emergency IV.
And the Friday before the shooting, Henderson had a review hearing before a board at the Utah Peace Officers and Standard Training Academy. He learned his certification to be a police officer might be suspended or permanently revoked.
Whatever the cause, Henderson wasn't himself the night before the shooting, family members say.
"He'd had a rough night the night before, and his truck got stuck in the foothills when he took his son rabbit hunting," Martin says. "When he came home he had a different look in his eyes, and I knew something was wrong.
"He woke up very angry. He was very angry at everybody, my mom says. He was angry he didn't have a job."
A week ago today, a judge ordered Henderson, accused of aggravated attempted homicide, held in jail without bail. He has now been in jail for 10 days without an attorney.
Trimble remains hospitalized at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. Natalie Henderson said he was in intensive care until Wednesday and was taken off oxygen on Saturday. Doctors put a rod in his left leg, and the site is infected.
Two families are devastated and struggling to cope.
"I want to thank Natalie for supporting our family," Annie Martin says. "She has been very good in calling and checking and making sure everyone is OK. She has not been bitter, and she's been sensitive that it's a big loss and very disappointing for us.
"She recognizes Art's a good guy and has a lot of good qualities."
"I feel terrible," Natalie Henderson says. "I know Art's family is going through just as much as we're going through.
E-mail: twalch@desnews.com