WEST VALLEY CITY — A Salt Lake man was arrested following a chase after police say he rammed two patrol cars and then carjacked a pizza delivery man’s car before crashing into an innocent bystander — all because he didn't want to go back to jail.
Stephen Nolasco-Juarez, 20, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of aggravated robbery, theft, theft by receiving stolen property, two counts of assault on a police officer, and failing to respond to an officer’s signal to stop.
Tuesday night, a West Valley police officer spotted a stolen vehicle near 1950 W. 3500 South. Officers tried to box in the vehicle by placing one patrol car in front of it and another behind.
Once the officers turned on their red and blue lights, Nolasco put the vehicle in reverse and rammed one police car, and then drove forward and rammed the other, according to a police affidavit.
“The GMC (Envoy) was able to maneuver out of the box in after hitting the police vehicles multiple times,” the affidavit states.
Police say Nolasco then drove a short distance, got out of his vehicle and ran toward a Domino’s Pizza, where he found a delivery driver parked in front.
“Nolasco-Juarez jumped into the delivery guy’s vehicle and kicked him out of the driver seat,” according to the affidavit.
Police then chased the stolen Domino’s car on Redwood Road. The chase ended when Nolasco ran a red light at Indiana Avenue and crashed into another vehicle, the affidavit states.
“In the accident there were four innocent citizens injured,” police wrote in the report. Updated conditions on those victims were not immediately available Wednesday.
When interviewed by police, Nolasco said “he was told by the judge next time he was arrested he would go to prison. Nolasco-Juarez informed me multiple times that he did not want to go back to jail,” the affidavit states. “Nolasco-Juarez also informed me he has only been out of jail for 17 days and only does this stuff when he is high on meth. Nolasco-Juarez admitted to using meth about 25 minutes before we found him.”
Nolasco allegedly said he kicked the pizza delivery driver out of his car when he refused to give him a ride.
Nolasco has a history of fleeing from police, the affidavit states, and had multiple warrants out for his arrest at the time of Tuesday’s chase.
“Nolasco-Juarez has no regard for human welfare while he is out of custody. He has fled from officers on multiple occasions and continues to flee. I know as Nolasco-Juarez has no regard to human welfare it is only a matter of time until he will cause serious harm to a citizen,” the arresting officer wrote.