THOMPSON SPRINGS, Utah (KUTV) — Grand County Sheriff’s Office and Utah Highway Patrol took a man into custody after a high-speed pursuit on I-70.
2News was riding with Grand County Sheriff Jamison Wiggins on Tuesday when a K-9 Deputy made a stop on I-70 heading eastbound towards Colorado.
“The vehicle fled from the deputies, the deputies gave chance, the vehicle ultimately turned around and started back westbound is when we intercepted it,” Wiggins said.
After a caller reported seeing the man turn around to head back westbound, Wiggins also turned around to drive back towards the Highway 191 turnoff. Wiggins took an exit ramp near Thompson Springs to check for the vehicle at a gas station.
When the driver in the silver Buick SUV turned around to head westbound, he left behind two luggage bags, which were located by deputies. Inside of the bags were vacuum-sealed packages of marijuana.
The vehicle was leaving the gas station and driving towards the on-ramp to continue westbound.
The driver immediately took off at a high rate of speed. Within seconds, the driver reached speeds of more than 110 miles per hour.
“We called ahead and had deputies spike the vehicle,” Wiggins said.
From a distance, 2News saw one of the deputies successfully use stop strips on the front passenger tire of the silver SUV. A few hundred yards past the successful hit of the tire, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper was set up to help another set of stop strips.
“He put a lot of lives in danger, and it sounds like he swerved at a Utah Highway Patrol trooper to try to get away,” Wiggins said.
Shortly after the front tire was hit with the stop strip, the driver was pulled over with another vehicle on the shoulder.
Members of the Grand County Sheriff’s Office and Utah Highway Patrol quickly took the suspect into custody.
It’s unclear if anything else besides marijuana was located inside of the bags or the vehicle other than a large amount of money.
As part of their patrols on I-70, deputies aren’t specifically looking for marijuana — however, they are looking for narcotics.
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