A Colorado woman, whose wild flight from northern Utah police ended with her being shot in the eye, has been charged with felony aggravated assault.
In 2nd District Court documents filed by Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings, Kristine Nicole Biggs, 41, faces two third-degree felony counts of aggravated assault stemming from the incident late last month.
Biggs also has been charged with third-degree felony failure to respond to an officer's signal to stop, along with numerous misdemeanor counts ranging from driving on a suspended or revoked license to driving with an invalid vehicle registration and driving with an open alcoholic container.
Biggs was initially in critical condition at an Ogden hospital after being shot by a Morgan County sheriff's deputy as she crashed head-on into pursuing police cars. She was released and booked Saturday into Davis County Jail's medical unit, where she remained in custody Monday without bail.
The chase began about 10 p.m. on Nov. 24, when a Morgan County deputy attempted to pull over the woman's pickup truck for a broken headlight. Instead, Biggs, of Whitewater, Colo., allegedly sped away westbound on Interstate 84. A 40-mile pursuit ensued, going up Weber Canyon on the Morgan County side of the Weber River. Biggs then went east on I-84 to the Morgan city exit before re-entering the freeway westbound, police said.
Morgan deputies called for assistance from Utah Highway Patrol and other area law enforcement officers. At Horseshoe Bend on I-84, UHP troopers spread spike strips that blew out three of the pickup's four tires.
Nonetheless, Biggs sped on, sparks flying from the pavement, out of the mouth of Weber Canyon before taking the South Weber exit onto Cottonwood Drive. The suspect vehicle then made a U-turn and drove directly into the path of two pursuing Morgan County deputies.
The pickup sideswiped the first cruiser and hit the second nearly head on. The deputy from the first unit, meanwhile, had jumped out of his vehicle.
Davis County sheriff's Capt. Kenneth Payne, whose office is investigating the officer-involved shooting, said the deputy repeatedly ordered Biggs to turn off the engine and get out of the pickup, but she allegedly kept ramming the second cruiser.
It was then that the deputy from the first cruiser shot Biggs through her windshield. The bullet took out her left eye.
Neither of the Morgan officers was injured.
Police later learned there was an arrest warrant for Biggs out of Grand Junction, Colo., related to a probation violation following a guilty plea to felony menacing of a wildlife officer with a deadly weapon.
remims@sltrib.com