The Summit County Sheriff’s Office, Utah Highway Patrol and Salt Lake City law officers were involved in the pursuit and capture of two men Saturday night. The case originated in Summit County Saturday just before 4 p.m.
Summit County Sheriff’s spokesperson Capt. Kacey Bates says a call came into dispatch about the occupants of a gray Chrysler throwing bottles out the window of the car. Several other reports came in advising police the direction the vehicle was headed.
“The vehicle was seen in Park City. But I believe that they were unable to turn around and lost the vehicle,” Bates said. “Due to the erratic driving of this vehicle, citizens were actually stopping law enforcement and notifying them of the direction of travel of these individuals that were driving in this Chrysler.”
A Summit County Sheriff deputy saw the vehicle but was unable to pursue it due to heavy traffic. At that point, Bates says the Utah Highway Patrol found the vehicle and began following it. She said she doesn’t know when or where that pursuit began.
According to Utah Highway Patrol’s Deputy Mike Alexander, several police vehicles, including a helicopter, were called out to pursue the Chrysler sedan.
“We were notified that a suspect had fled from Summit County and ended up somewhere in Salt Lake and we were notified that the suspect vehicle had been located and so our troopers went to attempt to stop that vehicle,” he said.
The vehicle and driver couldn’t be located in Jeremy Ranch but were seen later as the driver made his way into Salt Lake City.
“The suspect vehicle was able to escape the situation,” he said. “He fled from the troopers there in Salt Lake City, which the troopers did not pursue. But at the same time, we also had Star Nine which is one of our helicopters that was up observing the vehicle, so the troopers did not pursue but the helicopter did keep eyes on the vehicle and followed it to a residential address in in Salt Lake City where it was parked in sounds like in a driveway. The troopers did respond to that address and blocked the vehicle in the driveway and the suspects tried to leave again and crash into, it sounds like, a brick wall.”
Bates says one of the suspects apparently got out of the vehicle while still in Summit County, was found and arrested. Alexander says the second arrest happened about 11 p.m. Saturday in Salt Lake City and was transported to the Summit County jail.
The men are identified as 49-year-old Shane Thurston and 32-year-old Albert Crews, both from the Salt Lake area.
Summit County issued an emergency alert through its Everbridge system asking residents to secure their garages and report any suspicious activity.
