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RICHFIELD, Sevier County — A Sevier County man is in jail Tuesday after ramming a police car, an act that was all caught on the officer's dashcam.
When police saw a truck driving erratically early Sunday morning, they took extra precautions after pulling the driver over.
"We ran his plate, found out who it was and waited for backup," Sevier County Sheriff Nathan Curtis said of Stetson Johnson, the man in the truck. "Officers knew who he was and knew his history to resist arrest and fight with the deputies, fight with officers."
When two other officers arrived to help, police told Johnson he was under arrest on outstanding warrants. At that time, Johnson ran back to his truck and began a high-speed chase through the streets of Richfield.
After finding a bridge was out, police said Johnson threw his truck into reverse and struck one of the officer's cars. Even without audio, the force of the impact is apparent.
The officer's vehicle was totaled.
"Luckily our officer wasn't hurt," said Sgt. Trent Lloyd with the Richfield Police Department. "We took him up to the hospital as a precaution, but he seems to be doing fine."
"Just really fortunate and lucky that no one was hurt," Lloyd continued, "not our officer, not the county officer, or anybody else for that matter."
After a short foot chase, Johnson was subdued by a Taser and taken to jail.
Curtis had nothing but praise for his deputies and the other officers, who he said used a lot of restraint to ensure the situation ended safely for all involved.
"They were able to make an arrest without anybody getting seriously hurt," he said. "If the officers didn't take the care that they did, it could have turned into a shooting very easily."
Johnson now faces prison time on charges of assault on a police officer as well as drug possession. Police found crystal meth, heroin and marijuana in his truck.
Because of his history of resisting arrest, Johnson is being held without bail.
