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SALT LAKE CITY -- A series of strange and ironic circumstances led to the arrest of two men early July 12.
Lt. Craig Gleason of the SLCPD described the night as "a suspicious circumstance that turned into criminal mischief, that led into a foot pursuit, that ended up with a very minor traffic accident...all connected to the same people."
"But it took us a while to figure that out."
According to police, the "mess" started when a bystander mistook a someone trying to help their agitated friend into a car for an attempted kidnapping.
Police responded to the call, and determined the claim to be unfounded.
However, according to Lt. Gleason, the supposed kidnappee began taking his agitation out on a nearby chimney, which he proceeded to tear apart brick by brick. This generated yet another call to police, and an arrest.
Upon responding to the second call, the original car fled the scene with two passengers, apparently because the driver thought that he had one or more warrants out for his arrest.
This fleeing turned into a foot pursuit, ending with a minor car accident in a motel parking lot, and the man's capture.
Ironically, the man had no warrants at all. Instead he was charged with unlawfully fleeing police who were reasonably trying to detain him.
Throughout the happenings, the two passengers, who had simply asked for a ride and got caught up in a decidedly strange night, waited when officers asked them too, and turned out to have nothing at all to do with the crimes.
Asked what was next after sorting out the convoluted events, Lt. Gleason said "Investigate, verify and write a bunch of police reports to cover everything that happened."
