Woman surrenders after leading Utah troopers on freeway chase

A woman who led Utah Highway Patrol troopers on a chase that started at 12300 South on Interstate 15, surrendered nearly a half-hour later after one of her tires was spiked.

The driver, a 44-year-old West Jordan woman, was arrested on suspicion of fleeing, failure to stop at command of a police officer, improper lane travel, HOV violation, not using a seat belt and having no driver license in her possession.

The pursuit began at 12:50 p.m. Wednesday, when the woman passed a UHP trooper, who was driving northbound in the HOV lane, by using the left emergency lane, UHP Cpl. Todd Johnson said.

The trooper attempted to stop the woman, but she continued to drive at speeds of about 80 mph.

Another trooper deployed spikes near 8000 South but the woman swerved around the spikes, according to a UHP report.

After two other troopers joined the pursuit, a second set of spikes were deployed farther north.

The driver tried to swerve again, but the spikes got the left front tire and car began to slow, according to the report.

At about the time the woman's tire blew, police dispatchers noted during radio traffic that the woman had called 911 to advise she was not going to stop.

But as she approached the 600 North off-ramp, a trooper moved his patrol car in front of the woman's car to slow her down as she took the ramp. Troopers were then able to box in the car and safely conclude the pursuit at 1:16 p.m.

After the woman was taken into custody, she said she did not stop because she was a sovereign citizen and the UHP had no authority to stop her, according to the report.

remims@sltrib.com

Twitter: @remims