WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, June 3, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — Police encountered a known suspect Friday who tried a novel, but ultimately useless technique in an attempt to elude arrest.
Events began at 2:20 p.m. in West Valley City when a Taylorsville Police detective at 1615 W. 3500 South spotted a man who is well known to local police and is wanted on a felony firearms warrant.
The man had walked into a building, coming out to find himself confronted with a growing number of officers from multiple agencies.
“They challenged him,” Taylorsville Sgt. Jeff Smith said. His response was to climb into the back seat of a car. “It was not his car.”
He refused to come out, and the car had a tinted rear window and was parked front-first at a wall so the gathering officers did not have a clear view of him or any preparations he might be making inside.
“He’s got a lot of history with us,” Smith said. “Officers were absolutely not going to get into that car with him.”
Instead they employed a “glass-breaker,” a low-caliber pistol much like a paintball gun to break the rear window, Smith said, then hit the suspect with pepper balls. Which released pepper spray, convincing the suspect to depart the car.
Even with by now 10 officers assembled, he resisted arrest, Smith said, “screaming and yelling at the officers, waving his arms in the air. He kept fighting with them even after he was tasered.”
The suspect, Jerome Aiono, 37, faces multiple charges from the incident, beginning with resisting arrest. Smith said he was found in possession of credit cards and IDs of other individuals and suspected methamphetamine.
