Utah mayor David Young spat on and punched by journalist’s daughter Linnea Pugmire after slamming her mother’s investigation into his business dealings

A routine investigation into a mayor’s business dealings took a dramatic turn when the journalist’s daughter punched and spat at him outside a Utah council meeting.

Orem Mayor David Young told the meeting that he had been wrongly targeted by the city’s Daily Herald newspaper in a series of stories about a bankrupt real estate company.

He singled out the newspaper’s reporter, Genelle Pugmire, calling her “very derailed articles that keep appearing in our local newspaper.”

But he was really attacked moments later when Pugmire’s daughter Linnea, 31, asked him: “Do you know who I am?” before firing herself at him in the municipal parking lot.

“She charges at me, she spits on me, she spits and hits the girl next to me,” Young told Fox13.

“When that happened, I obviously wasn’t really happy about it, so I put pressure on her to try to get her away from us.”

“I was terrified,” said Michelle Lee, who was with the mayor and videotaped the confrontation.

“I’m with my mother and my sisters, the mayor, the city attorney, I don’t know what her plan was, she was so erratic and unhinged.

“She had keys on a string that she was waving around, I didn’t know what her next move was.

“She could have done anything.”

Mayor Young had accused the newspaper of “promoting extreme division” with its investigation into a $1 million judgment against Young and his son Shawn in an Alabama court last year.

The Herald noted that Circuit Court Judge Pat Ballard had described the pair as “extremely lacking in credibility” and “often highly evasive in their answers to even the simplest questions.”

The judge said Young should have disclosed that his son was a “compulsive gambler” and the newspaper reported claims that Young had transferred $21 million into a trust in his wife’s name in an attempt to avoid paying his debts.

Young told the newspaper that the case is being appealed and that he had nothing to do with his son’s business activities.

“This non-news event was pushed to the front page of their weekend newspaper with the highest readership,” he told the council meeting.

“I wouldn’t make a big deal out of this, except that it just keeps happening and this just keeps coming out of this paper and we just have to keep going, and it’s just not right.”

“It’s just amazing what’s going on.”

Pugmire, who uses they/their pronouns, told Young outside that her mother was just “doing her job.”

“She likes to write about the court, she’s going to learn about the court,” Young snapped back.

“Your mother went over the top in this article, she has gone over the top in every article I pulled out.

“But the one this weekend where she talked about my wife.”

That prompted the heavyset Pugmire to swing at the mayor again, apparently receiving a punch to the jaw before turning to punch his colleague.

“I know what I did tonight,” Young told her.

“I’m tired of being pushed around by your mother, you look the same, I recognize you, you’re disgusting.”

Pugmire shouted that the mayor is a “liar and a cheat and deserves everything coming to him” as police arrived and handcuffed her Tuesday night.

Pugmire was booked into the Utah County Jail on suspicion of threatening elected officials, a third-degree felony, propelling bodily materials, assault and disorderly conduct, her mother’s newspaper reported.

“The safety and security of our government officials is a top priority,” the council said in a statement.

“The City of Orem will continue to promote civility at all times and ask the public to join this effort.”