Man Leads UHP On Chase In Tooele County, Steals Walmart Semitruck
Sep 19, 2020, 10:10 PM | Updated: Jul 12, 2023, 6:57 pm
MAGNA, Utah — A man has been taken into custody after he led Utah Highway Patrol troopers on a long chase in Tooele County, first in a car with stolen license plates, and then in a semi-truck that was taken from a Walmart Distribution Center.
Trooper Mikki Vargas with the Utah Highway Patrol said the incident began around 1 p.m. Saturday when a trooper pulled over a black Cadillac Escalade on eastbound Interstate 80 in Tooele County. When the trooper ran the vehicle’s plates, she discovered they were stolen and she called in backup.
But before backup could arrive, two passengers got out of the car and ran, and the driver took off.
Vargas said the trooper who made the traffic stop focused her attention on the two runaway passengers, who were eventually apprehended, while the backup searched for the Cadillac Escalade.
Tooele deputies eventually located the vehicle and initiated a pursuit.
Spikes were placed on the highway, but Vargas said the driver avoided them by driving the wrong way on the eastbound on-ramp from SR-38.
Officers then terminated the pursuit due to danger.
Soon after, police got a call from a Walmart distribution center that someone had stolen their semi-truck and trailer.
Vargas said officers located the semi-truck and spiked it several times, but it kept going.
The vehicle eventually lost a wheel, stopping at the intersection of SR-201 and 9180 West in Magna, where the suspect was taken into custody.
The suspect’s identity has not been released.
