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Show Officer freed after 5 hours a hostage " T-TTiTTrnrrir jiii J,l,ua,M,Bi,,,i,,,iB " rr-V CEDAR CITY Cedar City Police Officer Glen R. Miller, 28, is home again safe after allegedly being held hostage for about five hours late Monday night and Tuesday morning. William Kent Reed, 21, of Draper, Utah, has been arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping and attempted at-tempted homocide in connection with the incident, according to Iron County Attorney James L. Shumate. However, at press time, Shumate was still investigating in-vestigating the incident, and could comment little more. Reed is currently being held by the Clark County Metro Police in Las Vegas, pending extradition proceedings to bring him back to Iron County to . stand trial on the charges, Shumate said. The incident began shortly before 11 p.m. Monday when Cedar City officers were requested by the Parowan Police Department to watch for a blue pickup truck a and its suspicious occupant who was reportedly attempting to sell tools in Parowan. Officer Miller, who was near Cedar City's north Interstate 15 interchange, spotted the described vehicle and reportedly tried to stop the pickup near . 700 North Main Street. However, according to the Cedar City Police Department, the vehicle allegedly did not stop, and a pursuit ensued through Cedar City to the area of 400 South 225 West, where Officer Miller apparently left his patrol unit on foot to search for the suspect. At that time, the events are still a bit hazy to investigators. A shot was fired, probably from the gun of Officer Miller, said Sergeant Craig Holyoak, but no one was injured, other than powder burns on Miller's wrist. The shot was probably fired during a scuffle b between Miller and Reed, Holyoak continued. And at that time, Reed allegedly overpowered the officer. of-ficer. When additional officers arrived on the scene, they allegedly found Reed holding Miller at gun point with Miller's service revolver. According to the officers, the suspect then allegedly handcuffed Miller and fled the scene in a marked Cedar City patrol car and headed south on the interstate with Officer Miller. A number of officers from various local agencies gave chase but maintained main-tained a distance from the suspect to insure Officer Miller's safety. . Visual sight of the suspect was lost near Washington and at that time law enforcement officers in three states began setting up roadblocks to try and intercept the vehicle. "We've got every officer in southern v Utah out working," said Lieutenant Bob Greenhalgh during the height of the chase, when a 50-mile perimeter was blocked out and covered. However, unknown to police, Reed allegedly drove into St. George where a Salt Lake City couple was taken hostage. The patrol vehicle was abandoned near the Four Season's Motel, and the couple's car was reportedly driven to Las Vegas. Officer Miller and the couple were ' allegedly left handcuffed together in the parking lot of Ceasar's Palace, but the woman managed to escape and find heldp. Reportedly, Reed escaped officers at the Ceasar's Palace and was later apprehended in the vicinity of Harmon and Paradise at 4:40 a.m. Reportedly, Reed was listed on the national crime computer as an escapee from State custody Monday afternoon, see HOSTAGE on page A3 Cedar City Police officers stop a truck on Interstate 15 south of Cedar City. As soon as it was learned that a police officer might be a hostage, a series of road blocks were set up across southern Utah in an attempt to find the officer. HoStflG continued from page Al and the truck he was allegedly driving when he arrived in Cedar City as stolen from Provo at about the same time. However, this information was unavailable to Miller when he tried to stop the vehicle, because the computer was temporarily out of service. |