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PANGUITCH — What started as an attempt to pull over a vehicle that police say ran a stop sign in Panguitch ended in a high-speed chase and head-on crash with a patrol car in Kane County.
Curtis E. Heisler, 34, of Phoenix, was arrested for investigation of a number of charges including failing to stop for police, possession of a weapon by a restricted person, three counts of reckless driving and interfering with an arrest.
The incident began about 8 a.m. Monday when a 2005 Mercedes ran a stop sign at the corner of Main and Center Streets in Panguitch, according to a police booking affidavit. The vehicle was pulled over a short distance later.
A Garfield County sheriff's deputy found Heisler, a woman and two children in the vehicle. The woman was driving, the affidavit states. Because the deputy smelled possible marijuana in the car, he had everyone get out, according to the affidavit.
"I then began a search of the vehicle and found an AR-15 rifle and a loaded magazine with 20 rounds of 5.56 ammo in the rear of the car on the floor behind the driver's seat," the affidavit states.
After running a background check on Heisler and learning he was restricted from owning a gun due to a past felony conviction, deputies told him he was going to be arrested, according to the affidavit.
Heisler then pushed his way past deputies, got into his car, and after a brief struggle, started the vehicle and fled, the affidavit states.
He reached up to 70 mph on Panguitch residential streets where the speed limit is 25 mph, police said. He accelerated to over 90 mph on Main Street and when he got onto U.S. 89, "I estimated his speed around 130-135 mph," the deputy wrote in the affidavit.
"While traveling south on U.S. 89, the white sedan left the right lane into oncoming traffic multiple times. The vehicle was able to outrun our patrol vehicles," the affidavit states.
Deputies in Kane County and Utah Highway Patrol troopers were notified of the pursuit and assisted.
Near Orderville, Heisler turned around and started driving north again. A Kane County deputy got out of his patrol car to deploy tire spikes near the Bryce Zion Campground in Glendale Canyon. He parked his car on the southbound side to stop traffic.
Just as he deployed the tire spikes, Heisler swerved to avoid them and smashed head-on into the unoccupied patrol car, according to a statement from the Kane County Sheriff's Office. A medical helicopter took Heisler to a hospital in St. George where was treated and released. He was then booked into jail.
Deputies noted in the affidavit that Heisler "has a large criminal history of resisting arrest" and "has multiple felony convictions in the past, as recent as 2019."
