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NEPHI — A man with multiple warrants out for his arrest was apprehended Wednesday after police say he led them on a high-speed chase that ended with him driving into oncoming traffic.
James Daniel Harper, 36, was booked into the Juab County Jail for investigation of 15 potential criminal charges, including multiple counts of reckless endangerment, failing to stop at the command of police, DUI and drug possession.
Just after 8 a.m. Wednesday, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper spotted Harper going an estimated 115 mph on I-15 outside of Nephi, according to a police booking affidavit. The trooper turned on his emergency lights in an attempt to pull the vehicle over.
"The vehicle slowed his speed down to nearly 40 mph and then sped up to nearly 120 mph," the affidavit states.
The trooper said Harper drove "erratically" as he fled and then exited I-15 in Nephi.
"Once the vehicle exited the freeway, I terminated my pursuit and informed local units to be on the lookout for the vehicle. At this point I had units set up at the freeway ramps to step up containment of Nephi," the trooper wrote in the affidavit.
The car was located at a gas station and fled again as Nephi police officers and Juab County sheriff's deputies attempted to close in.
"The subject attempted to enter the freeway and collided with the fence and other objects at the freeway entrance, causing damage to the front end of the vehicle and blowing out the front passenger side tire. The pursuit went on for several more miles and then the vehicle crossed through the median and began to travel north in the southbound lanes of travel," according to the affidavit.
Harper nearly hit several vehicles while driving the wrong way, the affidavit says. A trooper sped ahead of Harper, crossed the median and then rammed the rear of Harper's vehicle and disabled it, "just before the subject could go head-on into another vehicle."
Harper then got out of his car and ran, but was stopped a short time later by police.
"The subject was placed into the patrol car, and while speaking with him I could see fresh needle marks on his arms, the suspect eyes were rolling in the back of his head and he had constricted pupils," according to the affidavit. Drug paraphernalia was found inside Harper's coat, and troopers say he admitted to swallowing heroin.
Inside his car, investigators found numerous power tools that were suspected to be stolen. Police also noted that Harper has multiple warrants out for his arrest and "is also known to carry firearms and has multiple charges of possession of firearms."
Police have requested he be held without bail in the Juab County Jail pending trial.
"The driver already has multiple statewide warrants for his arrest and is already on the run for other charges," the affidavit states.
