ST. GEORGE — A woman was arrested Saturday afternoon after giving high-speed chase to troopers on the interstate then fleeing on foot until a K-9 unit caught her. A passerby caught the final portion of the foot chase on camera.
Utah Highway Patrol received an “attempt to locate” bulletin around 4 p.m. Saturday asking law enforcement to watch for a Gold Chevrolet Cruze driven by a 24-year-old woman who had been spotted driving recklessly at milepost 51 on Interstate 15, trooper Cameron Roden said.
Troopers set up at Exit 33 to try to stop the suspect car heading south, but it blazed past the exit.
“The vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed,” Roden said. “The trooper initiated a traffic stop at Exit 27, and the vehicle didn’t stop and increased speed.”
Pursuit ensued and troopers prepared to deploy spikes. At one point, the woman was reportedly driving nearly 120 mph. An initial attempt to stop the car with spikes failed but a second attempt prevailed.
“They attempted spikes again at about milepost 9 and were successful,” Roden said. “The vehicle slowed and then the driver lost control and crashed into the center concrete barrier and came to a stop at milepost 8.”
As troopers approached the car using felony-stop, or high-risk stop, protocols, the woman left the car and started running toward a concrete barrier.
She jumped up on the barrier and an attending K-9 unit deployed its dog to catch her. The K-9 bit her and authorities were able to apprehend her.
See video top of this report showing troopers with K-9 apprehending the suspect.
The woman was taken into custody and treated for minor injuries relating to the dog bite before being booked into jail, Roden said.
The incident is still under investigation, Roden said Saturday, but drugs and alcohol are believed to be factors. Charges were still pending determination at the time.
This report is based on preliminary information provided by law enforcement and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.
I may be in the minority here, but, can we take a look at why we were unable to stop this car along less congested stretches of I-15?
A motorcyclist flying along at 120 mph puts themselves at risk, but a passenger car can do a lot more damage. Once you get past Washington Parkway (southbound) things get very busy.
The good news is: this person was prevented from entering the VR Gorge, where serious damage could have been done…..