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SEVIER COUNTY — Utah Highway Patrol Sergeant Rich Haycock knew one day his negotiation training would come in handy. Last Thursday was that day.
"If a gun battle was probably going to happen that day, it would have happened within the first few minutes of that stop," Haycock said.
Troopers had just stopped 36-year-old Jamie Warhurst, who had led them on a high-speed chase on I-70 between Richfield and Green River. At some points during the chase, speeds reached more than a hundred miles an hour.
If a gun battle was probably going to happen that day, it would have happened within the first few minutes of that stop.
–Sgt. Rich Haycock
Troopers used spikes across the interstate to flatten Warhurst's tires, which allowed another trooper to spin her around using a "pit maneuver."
When trooper Rod Elmer approached her car, he noticed Warhurst holding a gun to her own chin.
"It's one of those situations where you say ‘I can't believe this is happening now'," Elmer said.
Haycock was one of the troopers there when the chase ended, and started talking to Warhurst right away.
It's one of those situations where you say 'I can't believe this is happening now'.
–UHP trooper Rod Elmer
He knew had to calm her down.
"We had to build trust," Haycock said. "And once you do that, then you can get to the root of the problem."
Haycock kept telling Warhurst she "was a good person."
He reminded her "it didn't have to end this way."
"Part of talking to people is understanding what they're really saying to you with their body language," Haycock said. "And listening to the silent voice that's inside of them."
He ended up speaking, and listening, to Warhurst for nearly three hours.
"I was thinking about how to react to what she was saying and what she was doing," Haycock said. "When to apply pressure and when not to apply pressure, how to reward her for good, how to direct the conversation to positive away from negative, away from fantasy to realism. And accountability."
During the standoff, I-70 in that area was closed. Drivers were being re-routed away from the standoff, which meant at least a couple of hours of being detoured.
"I feel bad for the people that were delayed, but not as bad as I would have felt if this lady had shot herself or one of our people," Haycock said.
Warhurst was allowed to smoke a cigarette and often spoke back to troopers. Haycock kept talking to her through it all, thanking her for "not pointing that gun at me."
At one point, he also asked her if she needed anything, like a pepperoni pizza. He says he tried everything he could to connect to her.
You're always proud when anything goes right.
–Capt. Bruces Riches
"There were several points in which it felt like it was teetering on a fence, and that she really wanted to end it," Haycock said.
However, about four hours after she was first pulled over, Warhurst handed her silver gun to Haycock and gave up.
"Common sense, level heads, good training, and good people," Haycock said. "And this lady is alive as a result."
And no one was hurt.
"The things that could have gone wrong, they're a dime a dozen," said Utah Highway Patrol Captain Bruce Riches. "You're always proud when anything goes right."
Riches says this standoff was done the right way; slowly and calmly.
"We're not trigger happy. We don't go out and get in a shooting and then get promoted as a result of that, or get rewarded for it," Riches said. "It's the last thing we want to have happen."
Riches also gave credit to Haycock, who went out of his way to take negotiating training.
"When the rubber meets the road and you're in the heat of battle, you're going to rely on your training," Riches said. "You're going to default back to those things you've been taught, those things that you have worked on for ever and ever and ever."
"He mentioned that he had first done this kind of training 30 years ago," said Utah Department of Public Safety spokesperson Dwayne Baird. "And he kept up on it, realizing that if he only had to use it once, it would have been worth all the time and training and effort."
When the rubber meets the road and you're in the heat of battle, you're going to rely on your training. You're going to default back to those things you've been taught, those things that you have worked on for ever and ever and ever.
–Capt. Bruce Riches
In this case, there's a good chance Warhurst is still alive because Haycock talked to her. And maybe more importantly, he listened.
"I felt extremely bad for this lady," Haycock said. "And I still do."
Warhurst was booked into the Sevier County jail on evading police and having a loaded gun in her car. She also has warrants for her arrest out of Kansas, which is why troopers think she was trying to get away from them in the first place.
"People are important," Haycock said. "That's what we're out here for. That's who we are and what we're all about. That's kind of how we roll. We're here to serve the people."
