WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, June 9, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — A driver is facing numerous charges after concerned residents called police to report a suspicious vehicle in their neighborhood Saturday.
Lt. Amy Maurer, West Valley City Police Department, told Gephardt Daily officers were dispatched at about 7:44 p.m. to the area of 6757 West and 3860 South.
“Neighbors were concerned about a vehicle driving really slowly,” Maurer said. “Specifically because there’s a park with a lot of kids in it, and he was driving back and forth.”
Police were given a description of the car, and when they located it and tried to pull it over, the suspect fled.
An officer pursued the car for a short distance, Maurer said, and another officer came into the area from the opposite direction to assist.
“The suspect vehicle ended up ramming our officer, causing damage to our vehicle as well as his,” she said.
Once the suspect was stopped, the police ordered him out of his car, but he refused to comply and then struggled with police as they took him into custody.
The officer whose patrol car was rammed was not injured. The suspect had only very minor scrapes from struggling with police, Maurer said.
It wasn’t yet known why the man was driving back and forth through the area, but Maurer said he wasn’t supposed to be driving the vehicle at all because of alcohol restrictions.
Charges the man will likely be facing include:
- Aggravated assault on a police officer
- Fleeing
- Resisting arrest
- Failure to obey the command of a police officer
- Possible DUI, plus related charges
- Speeding
Unified Police Department will handle the investigation as required by protocol because a WVCPD officer’s car was rammed in the incident.
