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TAYLORSVILLE — A Salt Lake man who police say attempted to carjack two vehicles, including one with an infant still inside, was arrested over the weekend.
Herbert Whitby Smith, 47, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail Saturday for investigation of two counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of kidnapping.
The incident began about 7:40 p.m. Friday in the parking lot of a Little Caesar’s Pizza restaurant at 4124 S. Redwood Road. Smith got into a vehicle with a woman and her infant child and attempted to drive away, according to a police affidavit.
“The victim stated she was sitting in passenger rear seat with her infant child in the vehicle while her husband went to retrieve dinner at a restaurant. The suspect walked up to her vehicle, got into the driver’s seat and attempted to put the vehicle in drive. The victim yelled several times at the suspect to get out of her vehicle, but he did not respond. The victim was unable to get her infant child out of the vehicle because her attention was focused on the suspect attempting to drive away with her and her child in the vehicle,” the affidavit states.
Smith got out of the woman's car, and then “attempted to get into five other vehicles that were parked and locked in the same parking lot,” police wrote.
He then went inside the restaurant to try and place an order, and then “left the restaurant and entered another unlocked vehicle parked out front of the restaurant,” the affidavit states.
When the car’s owner found Smith in the driver’s seat, he “forcibly pulled him out of his car,” according to the affidavit.
Police spotted Smith a short distance away and arrested him.
“The suspect was transported to jail but was refused due to him stating he swallowed several bags of heroin,” the affidavit states. He was taken to a hospital, where he was later cleared and taken to jail.
Smith was convicted of automobile homicide in 2000 and sentenced to one to 15 years at the Utah State Prison, according to court records. He was also convicted of assault in October.
