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LEHI — A SWAT team had to forcefully remove a Lehi man from his vehicle on I-15 Wednesday night when he refused to get out, according to the Utah Highway Patrol.
The incident came just a week after the same 76-year-old man was involved in a standoff with American Fork police for allegedly refusing to obey their commands.
Wesley Raymond Carlson was pulled over for a minor traffic violation just before 10 p.m. on I-15 near Lehi, said Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce.
Initially, Carlson was compliant and gave the trooper his driver's license, registration and insurance information. But when the trooper ran a background check on his laptop, he learned that Carlson's driver's license was suspended and neither his insurance nor registration were currently valid.
When the trooper walked back to Carlson and told him his vehicle was going to be impounded and he needed to step out of the car, Carlson rolled up the windows and refused to get out, Royce said.
"He felt like it was within the Constitution that he didn't have to talk with or deal with anything that law enforcement had to talk with him about," he said.
Knowing that Carlson has a history of weapons violations and trouble with law enforcement, including his recent incident with American Fork police, a SWAT team was called to get him out of the vehicle.
Just after midnight Thursday, the SWAT team ended the standoff by breaking one of the car windows, deploying a Taser on Carlson and then pulling him out, Royce said.
By Thursday afternoon, Carlson had bailed out of jail but his vehicle remained impounded, he said.
Carlson's criminal history, according to court records, includes charges filed in March for allegedly driving on a suspended license, no insurance and interfering with an arresting officer; convictions of driving on a suspended license at least three other times since 2014; and being convicted or charged with disorderly conduct multiple times since 2009.
Court records show Carlson was ordered several times to enroll in various treatment classes as part of his sentences, including at least one anger management class. He was also ordered in December to hand over all of his firearms to the Lehi Police Department during the duration of his current one-year probation in another case.
Contributing: Mike Anderson
