KAYSVILLE — A man who police say punched a convenience store clerk and an officer, all while referring to himself as “Superman,” now faces criminal charges.
Melekiole Faamanatuga, 26, of Layton, was charged Thursday in 2nd District Court with robbery, a second-degree felony; assault on a police officer, a class A misdemeanor; and interfering with an arrest and assault, both class B misdemeanors.
On April 5, Faamanatuga walked into a 7-Eleven, 385 W. 200 North, asked for a carton of cigarettes and described himself as “Superman,” according to charging documents.
“He then walked around the counter, up to the store clerk, and, pulling his arm back and winding up his entire body, punched the clerk in the face with what looks like in the video surveillance is maximum force. He punched the clerk multiple times,” the charges state.
The clerk told police he believed his nose was broken, the charges state.
When police arrived, they found Faaamanatuga at a fast-food restaurant next door.
“He then struck one of the officers with a closed fist, including hitting him in the face and above the officer’s eye. It took eight officers and a Taser deployment to finally restrain him,” according to the charges.
As he was being booked into jail, Faaamanatuga “resisted the attempts to place him in a holding cell and again referred to himself as ‘Superman,’” the charges state.
In Utah, Faamanatuga pleaded guilty to misdemeanor drug possession on March 25, according to court records. Charging documents call him a “multi-state offender,” including a conviction of felony eluding police in 2018.