Fugitive flees through attic, onto roof before arrest


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SALT LAKE CITY — TAYLORSVILLE — A man with a history of running from police was arrested Wednesday after allegedly running again.

Justin Harlen Archer, 26, was arrested for investigation of a number of crimes, including fleeing and failing to stop at the command of police. Investigators say he had been on the run for a week since leading officers on another pursuit.

On July 31, a Unified police officer attempted to pull over a Camaro near 5600 S. Redwood Road on a routine traffic stop, said Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal.

The driver continued onto I-215 without stopping. While on the freeway, several items were thrown out of the vehicle's window, including what appeared to the officer to be a gun, Hoyal said. The driver eventually exited the freeway near 3500 South, abandoned his vehicle and ran.

Investigators knew whom they were looking for, however. About 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Metro Gang Unit moved in on a house near 4700 South and 3200 West where Archer was believed to be staying, Hoyal said.

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But Archer tried to make a getaway again, climbing into the attic, crawling to the other half of his duplex, breaking through the ceiling and then out the adjacent duplex's window, he said.

"While they were talking with his girlfriend at the front door, he got up in the attic, crawled over through the attic into the other duplex, kicked his way down through the Sheetrock and got out of the window," explained Lt. John Barker of the Unified Police Department.

An officer spotted Archer jumping out the window and chased after him, Hoyal said. Archer ran through backyards and over fences to temporarily get away. But about 30 minutes later, detectives found him hiding on the roof of a nearby house near a cooling unit, Hoyal said.

Court records show Archer was charged in three separate felony cases in 2012, pleading guilty to felonies in two of them and an amended misdemeanor charge in the third.

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