MIDVALE, Utah, Dec. 2, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — A 35-year-old man was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail Wednesday after deputies say he rammed two patrol cars while trying to leave a Midvale construction site where he had been suspected of trespassing.
Casey Driggers Cooper is facing charges of:
- Failure to stop or respond at command of police, a third-degree felony
- Two counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony
- Failure to stop at command of law enforcement, a class A misdemeanor
- Possession of a controlled substances schedule l/ll/analog, a class A misdemeanor
- Use or possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor
- Criminal trespass, a class B misdemeanor
A probable cause statement filed by an officer of the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office says officers were summoned to the scene, in Midvale.
“I responded to a report of trespassers at a construction site in Midvale. I arrived at the scene and a Chevrolet Suburban fled,” the probable cause statement says. “A white male, later identified as Casey Cooper, failed to respond to my commands to stop and come to me. Instead, Cooper ran toward an F150, entered it, started it, and fled through the parking lot in his vehicle.
“He took a wrong turn in the parking lot and had to turn around. He came at me head-on and rammed my patrol vehicle at approximately 10 mph. He eventually put his vehicle in reverse. When he tried fleeing again, he rammed my patrol vehicle head-on at approximately 20 mph. The ramming action caused me to lunge forward in my seat and slam into my steering wheel. It put me at extreme risk of serious injury. It also caused a significant amount of front-end damage to my patrol vehicle.”
Cooper then fled, despite the officer’s activated lights and sirens, the statement says.
He drove extremely recklessly and fast through Midvale, Cottonwood Heights, and Sandy City areas. In the area of 9400 S. Highland Drive, Casey entered a park-and-ride. He lost control of his vehicle after driving over a curb and onto a grassy area. His truck spun 180 degrees, and put him head-on with another pursuing officer. Casey then accelerated at a second officer, hitting into his patrol vehicle head-on, and causing significant damage to the patrol vehicle and putting a second police officer in significant danger of severe bodily injury.”
The first officer pinned Cooper’s drivers-side door closed, and he was taken into custody.
“After post-Miranda advisement, Casey admitted to running from officers, stating he ‘didn’t want to go back to prison,'” the officer’s statement says. “He said he had been on parole approximately 1.5 years, and knew if he was caught, he would go back to prison. Casey said he has fled from officers ‘many times,’ and this time officers ‘brought it.'”
Cooper admitted to owning a meth pipe in his truck. A plastic bag of methamphetamine also was found.
