Canceled flight leads man to carjack 2 vehicles, cause several crashes, Utah police say
A man upset over a canceled flight carjacked two vehicles and caused several crashes, Utah authorities said.
Early on the morning of Friday, Nov. 4 at Salt Lake City International Airport, the man was told he would not be able to purchase a same-day ticket to Denver because the flight had been canceled, according to a news release from the Salt Lake Police Department.
The man left the ticket counter before police arrived and “found an occupied vehicle in the airport passenger pick-up area, forced the driver out and stole it,” according to police. The driver of the stolen SUV was unharmed.
As the man was leaving the airport in the stolen SUV, police said he “crashed into a small silver car” before doing a U-turn and crashing “into a white BMW SUV.”
He then got out of the SUV and tried to carjack the BMW SUV, police said. The man “tried multiple times to pull the woman (driver) from her SUV, but her seat belt kept her in the car and she fought back.”
The man retreated to the stolen SUV and crashed into another car, as well as “nearly hit a building,” according to police.
The man got out of the SUV, carjacked a Dodge Durango and began driving on Interstate 80, police said. While on the interstate, the man crashed into five cars.
While “investigating one of the crashes,” deputies from the Summit County Sheriff’s Office heard the man “throwing rocks at passing cars on I-80 trying to get them to stop,” police said.
The deputies then saw the man trying to carjack a Toyota Tacoma, police said. However, the driver “removed the keys from the ignition” preventing the man from sealing the pickup truck.
Deputies pulled the man from the truck and “took him into custody,” police said.
The man was taken to the “hospital for observation” and “will be booked into the Summit County Jail on multiple felony charges,” according to police.
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 4:12 PM with the headline "Canceled flight leads man to carjack 2 vehicles, cause several crashes, Utah police say."
