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SALT LAKE CITY — A pursuit between officers and a bank robbery suspect ended with the suspect hitting another vehicle head-on while driving the wrong way on a highway Friday evening, police said.
South Salt Lake police officer Mitch Howard said the series of events began around 5 p.m. when a man with a gun entered the U.S. Bank branch at 22714 S. 300 West and took an undisclosed amount of cash. He then entered a vehicle driven by another individual.
Howard said officers spotted that vehicle and began pursuing it. The suspects were able to evade the initial officers and ditched the vehicle for another.
An officer located an individual believed to be the getaway driver walking away from the vehicle, Howard said, and that man was taken into custody without incident. Not long after, officers spotted another vehicle leaving the area at a high rate of speed and began following it.
Howard said a pursuit between the officers and the suspect eventually ended with a head-on collision between the suspect's vehicle and another vehicle on Redwood Road the I-80 interchange in Salt Lake City. The entire sequence of events lasted less than 45 minutes, Howard said.
A woman driving the other vehicle received “significant” injuries, but those injuries were not considered life-threatening. The suspect received lacerations and a possible dislocated shoulder, Howard said.
“It could have been much worse,” he said. “You hate to see anyone get injured in regards to this, but unfortunately the suspects caused these things to take place.”
The suspect did not resist arrest after the crash, Howard said. He said a gun and cash were recovered in the suspect’s vehicle.
The suspects' names and ages were not immediately released. The man who robbed the bank has a long history with police, Howard said.
The Utah Highway Patrol and Unified Police Department assisted with the pursuit, as did some officers from the Salt Lake Metro Gang Unit who were in the area at the time.
