A routine trip to jail turned into anything but that Tuesday when a prisoner tried to jump out of a moving squad car.
Salt Lake County sheriff's deputy Keri Casper had just arrested a 43-year-old man wanted on an outstanding warrant for DUI. She picked up the man at a convenience store near 1300 East and 7200 South.
Casper followed standard procedures by handcuffing the man behind his back and placing him in the passenger seat of her patrol car to take him to the Salt Lake County Jail.
As they were entering the freeway about 1 p.m., the man told the deputy that he wanted to kill himself, said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Rosie Rivera.
That's when the man, with his hands still handcuffed, somehow managed to open the car door. As the man struggled to get out of his seat belt, Casper grabbed him with one hand while managing to drive with the other. She pulled her car over to the shoulder of I-215 near 300 East.
Casper's car was going about 45 mph, Rivera said.
Once the car was stopped, the man continued to put up a violent struggle, Rivera said. Casper was forced to put the man in a headlock and hold him until backup arrived. Deputies had to use a Taser five times to subdue the man, Rivera said.