This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Christmas Day near-collision with a Millard County deputy's cruiser, a subsequent sliding, 32-mile-long chase on Interstate 15, and a SWAT standoff ended up with a Utah couple behind bars.
The sheriff's office said a deputy spotted a black Toyota Tacoma pickup, pulling a small trailer, traveling in excess of 75 mph on snowpacked I-15 about 7:25 a.m. Sunday, 7 miles south of Fillmore.
The pickup truck, its trailer fishtailing on the ice, nearly struck the deputy's vehicle when he attempted to pull it over. A pursuit ensued at "speeds well beyond the posted speed limit," the sheriff's office reported, during which the suspects passed other vehicles using the emergency lane.
When the chase crossed the county line, Beaver County and Utah Highway Patrol troopers took over pursuit. A UHP trooper succeeded in forcing the pickup and trailer off the road and into deep snow, where it got stuck.
A 30-year-old Midvale woman was arrested as she got out of the passenger's side of the pickup, but the 33-year-old West Valley City man behind the wheel refused to surrender.
Beaver County SWAT officers responded, one of them firing a pepper-spray ball into the pickup to force the man out — and into handcuffs.
Initial fears that the male suspect had been involved in an earlier Utah County shooting proved unfounded. However, court records showed that he had been arrested in Morgan County on Dec. 14 for allegedly driving on revoked license, failure to install an ignition-interlock device, possession of marijuana and providing a false identity to a law officer.
On Monday, he remained in the Millard County jail on new charges of reckless driving, evading police, having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle, continued failure to install an ignition-interlock device, unsafe lane travel and speeding.
The female suspect was jailed on five outstanding warrants, and allegedly was found to be in possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia when jailed.
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