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FARMINGTON — A 22-year-old man was booked into jail after police say he led officers on a chase that began when he tried to forge a check in Wal-Mart and ended when he rammed a battered Ford into patrol cars on a dead-end road near Lagoon Amusement Park Tuesday afternoon.
According to Centerville police, Timothy Dean Johnson was booked into Davis County Jail Tuesday evening for investigation of a mix of felonies and misdemeanors, including: issuing a bad check, failing to respond to officers signaling him to stop, assault against a police officer, theft, reckless driving, interfering with an arresting officer, failing to remain at the scene of an accident and receiving a stolen vehicle.
Officers received a call reporting forgery from a credit union inside Wal-Mart in Centerville about 3:30 p.m. An officer spotted the truck driving northbound on I-15 about 20 minutes later and tried to make a traffic stop, but the truck sped away in the emergency lane, according to a Centerville police statement.
Police spotted the vehicle again in a Farmington neighborhood about a half hour later, the statement said. They walked to the vehicle and told the driver to get out, but he drove off, hitting a car parked nearby and turning down a dead-end road near Lagoon.
Officers blocked him in with their cars. He rammed into one of the patrol vehicles head-on, turned onto Main Street and kept going, police said. Once he turned onto Shepard Creek Parkway Drive in Farmington, he lost control of the truck, hitting a mailbox, crossing the median and crashing into a parked car.
Police vehicles successfully boxed him in. Officers took him into custody.
"Chases always involve a certain degree of risk," said Centerville Police Sgt. Zan Robison. "Any time we can minimize the risk and take somebody into custody with no injuries is a plus."
Police say the truck was stolen and so were its plates.
