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SANDY — A man driving a stolen Jeep rammed one police vehicle and nearly hit another while trying to escape arrest in Sandy last week, new criminal charges allege.
Angel Roy Contreras, 30, was in a Wal-Mart parking lot at 9151 S. Quarry Stone Way on April 8 when he backed into a Utah Highway Patrol car, "literally driving over the hood," court documents say.
Contreras is charged in 3rd District Court with assault against a peace officer and theft by receiving stolen property, both second-degree felonies; failure to respond to an officer's signal to stop, a third-degree felony; and failure to stop at the command of a law officer, a class A misdemeanor.
Three police vehicles with their lights on had surrounded the stolen Jeep, charges state. Contreras rammed the vehicle behind him and nearly struck an officer a few feet away before fleeing the parking lot, according to the charges.
Contreras allegedly evaded pursuing officers, then drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon, causing police to abort the chase. Court documents say he drove back down the canyon "at a high rate of speed," and after avoiding tire spikes once by driving onto the shoulder, the Jeep came to a stop in the Salt Lake Valley after hitting a second spike strip on Wasatch Boulevard. He was arrested soon afterward.
Court records, which list Contreras as a transient, indicate he has no prior criminal history in Utah. He is being held in the Salt Lake County Jail.
