Wild car chase ends in crash with police

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jan 20, 2007 by Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News

An early morning carjacking turned into a wild chase through southern Utah Friday and ended when a stolen car smashed into several police vehicles.

Washington County sheriff's deputies said the incidents began around 8:30 a.m. when a man driving a car reported stolen in California wrecked it near Leeds. Officers said the man, with a 15- year-old girl in tow, then took another car that was left running in a driveway.

"The (owner) heard the car taking off and ran out there," sheriff's chief deputy Rob Tersigni said Friday. "She tried to hang onto it and tell him to stop. She got punched in the face and dragged a little ways."

The stolen car was driven south on I-15 toward St. George. Deputies said it was stopped a short time later by an Arizona Department of Public Safety car.

"The officer tried to call him out, but he took off and the chase was on," Tersigni said.

With speeds reaching more than 100 mph, the chase followed I-15 to Cedar City. Officers from Washington County, the Utah Highway Patrol, LaVerkin Police and Iron County were involved.

"He attempted to hit the trooper on the side of the road who was deploying the spikes," Utah Department of Public Safety spokesman Brian Hyer said Friday.

The spikes on the freeway hit one of the tires of the stolen car. Police said the vehicle turned around, heading south again. Officers said the man then went off the road and back on the freeway, slamming into a Washington County sheriff's pickup.

"He was intentionally hitting our car and trying to push it out of the way so he could continue to go," Tersigni said.

Police say the man then rammed into a LaVerkin police car and into a pair of UHP cruisers. Police finally stopped the car and arrested the 23-year-old driver without any further incident.

Richard Read Evans, of San Diego, was booked into the Purgatory Jail on Friday for investigation of numerous charges, including aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, evading, speeding, possession of a stolen vehicle, drug possession and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The 15-year-old girl in the car with him was taken into custody and booked into juvenile detention.

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com