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SALT LAKE CITY — A couple was taken to jail after a wife helped her husband escape from a patrol car Wednesday, police said.
An officer was working in the area near 255 S. 500 West when he saw a couple “acting suspicious,” around 3:38 p.m., according to Salt Lake City police detective Veronica Montoya. She said the man, 39-year-old Jeremy Koller, was seen putting a small balloon with drugs into his mouth.
The man spit the balloon over a fence into a shelter playground area when the officer approached him, Montoya said. It later tested positive for heroin, according to investigators.
“(The officer is) attempting to take the man into custody, but he’s resisting,” she said. “A bystander sees what is going on and actually tackles the man that the officer is trying to take into custody and helps him make the arrest.”
The man was put into the officer’s patrol car with handcuffs on after being arrested, according to Montoya. She said at the same time, two other bystanders in the area were being uncooperative and questioning the officer about what he was doing.
A bystander sees what is going on and actually tackles the man that the officer is trying to take into custody.
–detective Veronica Montoya
“Unfortunately, the man who is being put into the patrol car, his wife comes around the vehicle and actually lets him out,” she said. “The man who was taken into custody starts to run away and the… female starts running away.”
The officer chased the man and was able to take him back into custody and put him in the patrol car, according to Montoya. She said bystanders in the area pointed to the location of the woman, 44-year-old Charity Block, so the officer could take her into custody as well. She had been attempting to drive away in a car with a stolen license plate, according to the probable cause statement.
Block was booked on suspicion of aiding in the escape of a prisoner, possession of stolen property and several outstanding warrants. Koller was arrested on suspicion of possession of heroin, resisting arrest, escape by a prisoner, fleeing and several outstanding warrants.
Contributing: Mary Richards
