A Utah Highway Patrol trooper was shot in the hand early Tuesday by a motorist he stopped to help.
Trooper Michael J. Leitch, 26, had stopped at 3:38 a.m. to see if he could help a man and woman who were standing outside a car stopped on I-215 on a bridge over the Jordan River just north of the Salt Lake-Davis county line.Leitch began talking to the woman when the man, who was standing in front of the car with the hood up, walked around the side of the car.
"He pulled a gun out of the car and started shooting at the trooper," said Utah Public Safety spokesman Gary Whitney. The man fired 12 shots at Leitch with a .22-caliber rifle. One of the shots hit the trooper in the left hand. Several other bullets hit the trooper's car.
Kenny Payne, Davis County sheriff's chief deputy, said Leitch was trying to wrestle the gun away from the man when he was shot in the hand. A bullet also pierced the trooper's pant leg and hit his two-way radio during the altercation.
Leitch was knocked to the ground during the gunfire, but he was able to return fire as the man and woman sped away, Whitney said. He did not know whether Leitch hit the car, described as an older, dark-colored Camaro or Firebird with primer spots and a temporary Utah license.
Leitch was treated at LDS Hospital and then released.
Leitch described the man who shot him as being about 6 feet tall, 200 pounds with short, dark, curly hair and a dark complexion.
Salt Lake County Sheriff's Search and Rescue crews spent the morning combing the bottom of the Jordan River next to the bridge where Leitch was shot. Officers investigating the incident said the man who shot Leitch may have thrown something into the river.
"We were not given specific direction on anything to look for," said sheriff's Lt. Gil Howard. Searchers found a plastic bucket with a nylon bag inside that was filled with Mexican coins, but there was no indication how long the coins had been in the water.
None of the other debris - a phone booth, a phonograph, a bicycle and other trash - had any apparent ties to the shooting incident.
Police issued a search bulletin for the suspects' car but had found nothing Tuesday morning.