TOOELE — A man who mistakenly thought police were following him because he had a warrant out for his arrest ended up being arrested after leading officers on a chase.
The incident began Thursday afternoon when a Tooele County sheriff's deputy attempted to pull over a driver for a routine traffic stop in the Stansbury Park area. The driver, however, ran a stop sign and a red light to get away, deputy Eric McCollum said.
Near the Lake Point area, deputies engaged their emergency lights. The man took off on I-80, hitting speeds of a little more than 90 mph, and exited in Magna. He ended up on a dead-end street, where he drove into a field, got out of his vehicle, jumped a fence and ran, McCollum said.
The man randomly ran up to a house near 8300 West and 2900 South, kicked in the front door and ran inside, police said. Fortunately, McCollum said, the residents were not home at the time.
After about a 20-minute standoff, officers yelled into the house that they were going to release a K-9. The man surrendered a short time later, McCollum said.
Ronald Scott Warr, 59, was arrested for investigation of numerous charges. He told deputies he ran because he thought he had a warrant out for his arrest.
Even though he didn't have a warrant, McCollum said detectives found heroin in his vehicle, as well as stolen property taken from a two-day vehicle burglary spree — including wallets, credit cards and purses — on Salt Lake City's east side about two weeks ago. Warr also admitted to using heroin that morning.
Court records show that Warr has an extensive criminal history.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com
Twitter: DNewsCrimeTeam