| Show mph speeds in auto chase A nineteen year-old year Denver Colorado man led Utah Highway High High- way Patrolman Gary Cutler on onan onan onan an automobile chase with speeds ranging up to mph Sunday afternoon following a theft of a pickup truck parked in front of f the Utah Museum of of Natural History in Ve Vernal i t where the owner of the truck Kathleen Smith of Vernal was viewing the newly arrived dinosaurs The speed high-speed auto chase resulted in the capture and arrest for auto theft of John Spencer Stewart in an area approximately miles north and a la mile east of the US U.S. 40 Ouray junction Kathleen Smith noticed a aman aman aman man get into her truck and drive off at 5 pm p.m. Sunday afternoon afternoon af af- af while she was looking at the dinosaurs along side the museum Following the departure of her vehicle she reported it to the Utah Highway Patrol dispatcher who then notified Trooper Troop r Cutler to be bealert bealert bealert alert for the truck Cutler was approximately six miles west of Vernal on Highway Highway Highway High High- way 40 when he spotted the vehicle matching the description of the stolen vehicle headed towards him Cutler turned around and maneuvered his car behind the truck which at this time was traveling between 60 and 70 mph Cutler turned his spotlight on the suspected stolen truck which resulted in the truck increasing its speed to about 80 mph The truck then increased its s speed to about 95 mph when C Cutler turned J on his Ms lights dual flashers and siren THE TIIE TWO vehicles reached a speed of mph at the Twelvemile Twelvemile Twelve Twelvemile mile bridge before the truck slowed down and made an abrupt right turn into the sage sagebrush sagebrush sagebrush brush at the Three-mile Three bench area After a mile in the sage sagebrush sagebrush sagebrush brush the truck turned north on ona a dirt road and traveled about 1 l' l miles before coming to a fork in the road According to Cutler if Stewert had decided to take the left-hand left fork rather than the right one he probably would have been home free as that fork would have taken the truck to Highway and probably freedom By this time Utah Highway Patrol Dispatcher Anderson Anderson Anderson An An- derson had alerted area law enforcement personnel to the situation As the truck was about three- three quarters of a mile from Highway Highway Highway High High- way 40 after taking the right right- Continued on Page 16 Auto chase chase- Continued From rom Page 1 11 hand fork in the dirt road he spotted hn Indian Police Department unit waiting wailing for him The had responded to the calls from the dispatch office in Vernal by Anderson The truck circled and headed back in the same direction he came from when he spotted the second unit and turned off another dirt road which ended in a end dead-end after yards One of the officers from the WD ml followed in foot pursuit after the suspect while his partner stayed with the vehicles to keep other units appraised of the situation CUTLER joined the unit at al the site and immediately joined in on the foot pursuit They lost visual contact with the suspect after a mile but didn't give up on the search in inthe inthe inthe the area gutted gulled with valleys washes and hill hills After traveling for 22 miles Cutler Culler and the officer came to a canyon where the they came upon some footprints The pair followed the prints to a sandy wash where the tracks came loan to lo toan toan an halt hall After a half hour of circling the area to see if they missed the tracks and not finding any the two officers concluded the suspect must still be hiding in inthe inthe inthe the area where the tracks stopped One of the Indian officers with Cutler Culler spotted a foot fool in between some rocks and yelled for Culler Cutler Cutler Culler joined the officer and spotted spoiled a face peeking pecking out from the rocks TilE THE AU ARREST REST of John Spencer Stewert came in the rocks near the U 8 88 Jcl approximately approximately approximately ap ap- ap- ap proximately an hour and a half after the theft of Smiths Smith's truck in Vernal Cutler gave credit to the Indian Police Department personnel who aided him in the search and to Highway Patrol Dispatcher Anderson who coordinated the search efforts of three units two units a Uintah County deputy sheriff from the West end a Vernal City PD PO unit and an aircraft containing a Vernal police officer and a Uintah County deputy sheriff Cutler held special praise for forthe forthe forthe the personnel and stated he personally didn't think they could have apprehended the suspect without the help of the Following the return to Vernal with the suspect Cutler Culler also issued a citation to Kathleen Kalhleen Smith for failure to secure a vehicle to wit leaving the keys klYs in the ignition |
