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OGDEN — A man who police say rammed a couple of patrol cars and led officers on a chase reaching speeds of more than 100 mph was recovering Wednesday after being shot by police.
The incident began about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday when an Ogden police officer was called to check on a possible drunken driver at The Gate at Canyon Ridge, 1455 Valley Drive. The officer spotted the man's vehicle at the apartment complex and attempted to question him. But as the officer walked up to the car, the driver took off, said Ogden Police Lt. Tony Fox.
The officer followed the man into the rear of the apartment complex, where he was able to corner the man's vehicle. That's when the man again tried to escape, Fox said.
"The suspect then rammed the officer's car a couple of times and tried to fit between the vehicle, the officer and the apartment building," Fox said. "The officer drew his weapon and fired several shots at the suspect."
Lynnel Meiti and her adult daughter live in one of the apartments close to where the shootout happened. Meiti said her daughter listened as the incident unfolded.
"She heard somebody yelling, 'Stop the car! stop the car!' — 10 different times. So she said she jumped up, and all of a sudden she heard these gunshots, and she was like, 'Mom there was, like, 10 gunshots just going off,'" she said.
The man was able to continue driving, however, and attempted to get on I-15. Backup officers attempted to force the man off the road, but he was still able to get on the freeway, where he sideswiped a second police vehicle near 21st Street, Fox said.
The ensuing chase reached speeds of more than 100 mph, he said. The pursuit was terminated for safety concerns at the northern Weber County line, Fox said.
Officers in other jurisdictions — including the Utah Highway Patrol, Cache County Sheriff's Office and Logan Police Department — later spotted the fleeing man again.
UHP troopers spiked the man's tires twice, said Logan Police Chief Gary Jensen. The chase was terminated when it reached Logan, near 1100 South and 1000 West. By that time, the man was driving on rims, Jensen said.
But as officers approached, the man drove off again. Jensen said officers followed gouges in the road left by the tire rims to another street, where the vehicle was parked off the side of the road. Once again, as an officer approached, the man drove off.
"He found a house that was for sale, that was apparently vacant, and pulled into the driveway, went just a little too far and dropped the front tires off the cement so that the car was then stuck," Jensen said.
Again, the man attempted to resist arrest. His attitude changed, however, after officers brought a police K-9 to the scene and threatened to release him, Jensen said. Law enforcers then discovered the man had been shot, likely during his initial encounter with the Ogden officer, Fox said.
Jensen said the man was still conscious and alert when he was transported to a local hospital with what appeared to be shoulder and hand injuries.
"(He was) alert to the point that he knew how to use some powerful foul language and (be) obstinate in dealing with the officers trying to deal with him," Jensen said.
The Weber County Attorney's Office did not immediately release the man's name Wednesday because he was not officially arrested.
The man, described as in his 50s, underwent surgery at an Ogden hospital. The attorney's office said there were law enforcers at the hospital so the man couldn't just walk out, even though he wasn't under arrest.
