WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, Jan. 26, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — A 23-year-old man is in police custody Wednesday night for possession of a stolen vehicle after multiple law enforcement agencies worked together to apprehend him.
Martin Olmedo was arrested at about 9:16 p.m. in Salt Lake City, after a meandering drive in the stolen Chevy Camaro from West Valley City into Davis County and then back into Salt Lake County.
A Department of Public Safety helicopter tracked him overhead and relayed his location to the detectives with the Special Investigations Team as he traveled through the various jurisdictions, according to Lt. Steve Burke, with the West Valley City Police Department.
Burke told Gephardt Daily the stolen Camaro had been seen over several days in different locations, and each time the police tried to pull it over, the driver fled.
On Wednesday night, West Valley City police located the vehicle and “sat on it until someone got in,” Burke said. “The DPS helicopter came out and launched when the vehicle moved.”
Another person was in the car with Olmedo, but that individual was let out in the area of 600 North and 500 or 600 West, and is not considered to be a suspect, as it isn’t known if that person knew the vehicle had been stolen, Burke said.
The DPS helicopter tracked the Camaro for about an hour, from West Valley City to Midvale, Murray, and Davis County, where it was successfully spiked, and back into Salt Lake City.
Olmedo then abandoned the Camaro and fled on foot, east on Fremont Street, where he was taken into custody without incident.
No one was injured in the course of taking Olmedo into custody.
“We have much better success when we plan to put out spikes, rather than pursue or try to box them in,” Burke said. “We try really hard not to engage in a pursuit.”
Burke said that Olmeda apparently is a suspect in cases where he fled from several other agencies.
Gephardt Daily will update this story as more information becomes available.
