‘I hit him on purpose’: Man arrested for attempted homicide after hit-and-run, police say

SALT LAKE CITY — A man was arrested after he allegedly rammed his car into an SUV as the driver was attempting to unload three children on Sunday.

Michael Floyd Norvell, 51, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, reckless driving, driving under the influence, failure to stop or yield, failure to perform the duties of a driver after a crash resulting in injuries, and having no license plate visible from 100 feet, according to the Salt Lake City Police Department.

SLCPD said officers responded to multiple calls of a hit-and-run crash on 305 S. 1100 West at approximately 3:40 p.m.

Police said the victim, an out-of-state man who was visiting family, had parked his SUV and started to unload three children from the car when Norvell allegedly rapidly accelerated and slammed his car into the victim’s SUV.

“The victim had to jump on Norvell’s car to avoid being run down or pinned. The impact threw the victim to the ground. Fortunately, the victim was not critically injured,” the SLCPD statement reads.

When SLCPD officers arrived at the scene, the victim said the suspect fled on foot and headed westbound on 300 South, according to the police affidavit. While searching for Norvell, another witness told police that the suspect was heading towards 200 South and attempting to go on the freeway.

According to the affidavit, police found Norvell on 1100 W. Pierpont Avenue, where he began walking toward officers and refusing orders to sit down, saying, “Shoot me, I don’t want to live anymore, it’s too hard.”

SLCPD officers were able to place Norvell in handcuffs and walked him to a patrol car. While he was being escorted to the vehicle, Norvell stated in an excited utterance, “I hit him on purpose,” according to the affidavit.

The arresting officer asked Norvell which car was his, and he said the Silver Volkswagen Golf, the car used in the alleged hit-and-run.

According to the affidavit, the suspect had slurred speech and glossy red eyes. The arresting officer smelled alcohol on Norvel’s breath. Norvel refused field sobriety tests, but a blood draw was completed while in custody.

The victim told officers he believed he would have died if he didn’t jump out of the way. He also thought that the suspect attempted to kill him. According to police, the victim had no connection to Norvell, and it appeared to be a random incident.

Security camera footage showed Norvell parking his car in the middle of the street, waiting for the victim to exit his vehicle and accelerating toward him without any sign of using the brakes.