According to Summit County Sheriff’s Lt. Andrew Wright, the vehicle was pulled over for several moving violations just after 9 p.m. Monday night. When a K9 sniff indicated the odor of narcotics coming from the vehicle, a probable cause search was started.
The driver initially provided a fictitious name to officers, then fled the scene on foot – crossing over several lanes of interstate traffic and running into the nearby Silver Creek neighborhood. Several law enforcement agencies were called in to assist with the search when the driver – a 35-year-old California man – was located nearly two hours later underneath a horse trailer.
“We were able to track some of the footprints in the snow and ultimately, after about an hour and 40 minutes and actually a resident said that he had gone out to feed or take care of horses on property notice what he described as seeing a face underneath his horse trailer,” Wright said. “And so, he was able to alert deputies. Those deputies got there, of course realized that this was the individual. He was very cold by this point. For whatever reason he had stripped off his shirt. So, he did not have a shirt on. It also lost his shoes in the process of running from the deputies. And so, they immediately got him some medical attention. He was taken to a Salt Lake hospital where I understand he is still there, being treated for hypothermia.”
The man was also carrying a social security card that didn’t belong to him and there was a warrant for his arrest from Kansas.
“There were what I've been told, described as more than five pounds of methamphetamine and fairly large amount of cocaine in the vehicle,” Wright said. “So combined with warrants and narcotics in the vehicle that probably tells us why the individual decided to run from deputies.”
Both occupants denied knowledge of the contraband in their vehicle. The older brother – who is 48 – is now in in jail facing two felony charges for possession with intent to distribute. Once out of the hospital, the younger brother is facing felonies for giving false info to a police officer, tampering of evidence and evading police.
