SALT LAKE CITY – October 24, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) – A suspected car thief has been charged with hurting a police K-9 after leading police on a high speed chase back in September.
Police say the suspect, Terrance Wilkins, 26, who was seriously injured in the incident and was initially transported in serious condition with injuries from the accident as well as multiple dog bite wounds, has now been officially charged with causing seriously bodily injury to a police service animal.
The incident occurred on September 18, 2015 around 1 a.m. when a undercover member of the SLC Metro Gang Unit noticed a man driving a stolen car.
The officer called for back-up as he tailed the suspect for several miles when the driver of the stolen car pulled into a parking lot.
Salt Lake City police tried to block the stolen car inside the lot when the driver sped toward one of the police officers and smashed into a police cruiser before driving off.
The chase came to an abrupt end near 900 South 2700 West when the suspect lost control of the car and slammed into a fence near 1800 South 3700 West.
The suspect jumped from the car and climbed a chain-link fence before running into a nearby field. He was apprehended a short while later after being taken down by an SLC police dog.
According to charging documents, the additional charge of assaulting the K-9 came after an officer who was following “Otto”, the K-9 involved in the incident, witnessed the suspect grab the dog by his throat and attempted to choke him while wrapping his arms and legs around Otto’s body. “Otto was not seriously injured, and has fully recovered,” said Lt. Lex Bell, Unified Police.
Wilkins has a history of running from police and at the time of his arrest he had outstanding warrants for assault on a police officer and failing to respond to the command of a police officer. He is currently being held on $100,000 bail for failing to stop at the command of police, possession of a controlled substance, aggravated assault and violation of probation or parole.
