CEDAR CITY — There were some tense moments for a Utah Highway Patrol trooper Thursday when a handcuffed couple allegedly tried to grab the trooper’s gun.
The incident began just before 9:30 a.m. when a Honda Accord was spotted going 111 mph on I-15 in Beaver County. Police chased the vehicle into Iron County where the vehicle still reached a speed of 110 mph and was weaving in and out of traffic, according to a police affidavit.
UHP troopers conducted a PIT maneuver on the fleeing car and stopped it. Korie Jo Wolfe, 36, who police say was driving, immediately got out of the vehicle, but her passenger, James Edward Snow, 39, stayed in the car.
“We could see he was actively inhaling paint by spraying green spray paint into a bag and huffing it. The male had green paint on his hands, clothes, and face. The male seemed intoxicated,” the affidavit states. “After ignoring several commands to exit the vehicle, the male finally exited after finishing his abuse of the inhalant and was taken into custody.”
Yard equipment that had been stolen from Home Depot and still had the security tags attached was found inside the car, according to the affidavit.
The couple was taken to the UHP’s field office in Cedar City for paperwork to be filled out before taking the two to jail.
While a trooper was working on the booking documents, Wolfe, who had her hands cuffed in front of her, “approached me from behind, placed both hands on my service weapon and attempted to take it from me,” the trooper wrote in the affidavit.
After pushing Wolfe away, both Wolfe and Snow “began to advance toward me ignoring verbal commands to stop and get on the ground” while Snow told Wolfe to, ‘Get it! Get it!’” the affidavit states.
“Both subjects continued to advance, reaching toward me and grabbing me. I would push the female away and I struck the male with a closed fist punch to the face multiple times as they continued to advance,” according to the affidavit.
The trooper called for backup to help control Snow and Wolfe.
Both were booked into the Iron County Jail Thursday and charged Friday in 5th District Court with disarming a police officer, a first-degree felony; failing to stop at the command of police and shoplifting, third-degree felonies; drug possession and assault on an officer, class A misdemeanors; and possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor. Wolfe received additional charges of reckless driving, a class B misdemeanor; and speeding, an infraction.
Snow also has a warrant for his arrest out of Ohio for burglary, the affidavit states.