Man jailed after alleged assault, 100 mph police chase in Box Elder County

Jerimia Joesiah Hawthorne. Photo: Box Elder County Sheriff

BOX ELDER COUNTY, Utah, Feb. 19, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — A Salt Lake City man was arrested early Wednesday evening after deputies say he committed a road rage incident, assaulted a man, and led law enforcement officials on a chase that reached a speed of more than 100 mph.

Salt Lake City resident Jerimia Joesiah Hawthorne, 19, has been booked into the Box Elder County Jail on initial charges of:

  • Receiving or transfer of a stolen vehicle, a second-degree felony
  • Aggravated assault, a third-degree felony
  • Failure to stop or respond at the command of police, a third-degree felony
  • Two counts of reckless driving, a class B misdemeanor

Law enforcement was dispatched at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday on a report of road rage on northbound Interstate 15 at milepost 362, near the Perry area.

“I observed the violator, Jerimia Hawthorne, traveling beside the complainant at mile post 372,” the probable cause statement says. “I followed the vehicle and observed the violator driving with his passenger mirror very close to the other vehicle. I engaged my emergency lights, signaling my intention to stop the vehicle. The violator accelerated and failed to yield.

“The violator weaved in and around traffic gradually picking up speed and exceeding 100 mph. Violator then drove off the road, destroying a portion of a barbed wire fence next to the roadway.”

The driver then left the scene at high speed, and deputies terminated the chase in keeping with set policy, a sheriff’s department statement says.

At about 5:40 p.m., officials were summoned to the area of 8300 North and 6800 West, where the suspect attempted to steal a vehicle parked in a driveway, the statement says. The suspect’s first vehicle had become disabled, the sheriff’s statement says.

The car’s owner came out of the house, and “the suspect struck the homeowner in the head with a beer can, causing a contusion to the homeowner’s left cheek,” the probable cause statement says.

The sheriff’s statement adds a little more detail:

“The suspect demanded the keys to the car. The resident complied by going into the home, but came back with his shotgun.”

The suspect ran away, but was picked up by another driver. Hawthorne “was arrested at Maverik in Tremonton shortly after.”

Hawthorne’s bail has been set at $11,360.

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