SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Dec. 17, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — Officials with the State Bureau of Investigation and Salt Lake City Police Department are on the scene of an officer-involved shooting in Salt Lake City.
Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Nick Street told Gephardt Daily agents were doing “covert work” in Salt Lake City Thursday afternoon when they observed a Mercedes nearby “participate in some alleged narcotic activity.”
A traffic stop was attempted and the vehicle fled from officials. A pursuit was not initiated but later, agents were later able to identify the driver of that vehicle as an individual who had multiple outstanding warrants, including at least one felony warrant for fleeing.
“They were able to locate the vehicle later this afternoon, in Salt Lake City again, and they covertly tailed it into Rose Park, off of Morton Drive,” Street said. “Some sort of exchange occurred between the driver of that Mercedes and those agents and shots were fired.”
The incident occurred in the area of 1800 West and 700 North.
The driver of the Mercedes then fled onto 700 North where he crashed into a FedEx truck.
Agents were able to take that individual into custody. The individual sustained non life-threatening injuries and was transported to Intermountain Healthcare. It’s not clear at this stage if he was shot or sustained injuries from the crash. Later Thursday afternoon, the individual was released from the hospital and will be booked into jail.
It’s not clear if the suspect shot at officers. The driver of the FedEx truck was uninjured.
The incident is being investigated by the West Valley City Officer-Involved Critical Incident Team, and body-cam video will be turned over to them.
The 700 North roadway is closed in both directions.
Gephardt Daily will have more information as the story develops.
