Deseret News | Corrections officer killed at campus medical center

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Corrections officer killed at campus medical center

Deseret Morning News

Published: Monday, June 25, 2007 9:58 a.m. MDT

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A Utah Department of Corrections officer was shot and killed today during a brazen escape by a white supremacist prisoner.

Authorities said Stephen Anderson, 60, of Bluffdale, was killed inside a medical exam room at University Hospital's Orthopaedic clinic with Curtis Allgier, an inmate with a history of burglary, forgery and weapons violations.

"This is a time of mourning for us," said corrections chief Tom Patterson. "This is, of course, one of the risks in the job we perform."

Police said Allgier was scheduled to undergo an MRI this morning for lower back pain. Anderson was alone in the medical exam room with Allgier.

"In the exam room, something happened," said University of Utah Police Chief Scott Folsom. "We presume an altercation. There was signs of a struggle in the room."

Folsom said it appears Allgier took the officer's gun and fired "at least one shot," hitting Anderson in the head.

From there, police said Allgier, 28, fled out the front doors with a gun in his hand, where he stopped an SUV at the intersections of Wasatch Drive, Foothill Drive and Wakara Way, and forced the two people inside the vehicle out onto the street.

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Salt Lake City police familiar with Allgier drove to a residence near 350 South and 900 West where a woman who knows him lives. Police cars responding to information that Allgier was in the area collided at the intersection of 900 West and 400 South. The crash damaged three police cars and another vehicle. Salt Lake City Police Sgt. Dan Brewster said all the injuries were minor, including an officer who sustained blisters on his face after an airbag deployed. A woman and a child were injured as well.

The impact of the collision was so forceful the trunk of a patrol car popped open, sending a ballistics helmet flying through the air into the windshield of a detective's car.

Police cars pursued the blue Ford Explorer south on Interstate 15 and onto the west I-215 belt route and then north to the State Road 201 freeway, from which the chase turned onto Redwood Road.

Speeds were in excess of 100 mph during the morning rush hour. Near the Redwood Road exit on I-215, officers were able to spike the vehicles tires. Despite the rear tire being driven on its rim, Salt Lake City Police Sgt. Rich Brede said the man was able to drive the SUV for a while at about 70 mph.

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7 photos

Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News

Curtis Allgier is placed into a police car after a high-speed chace that ended at an Arby's on Redwood Road. Allgier is suspected of killing a corrections officer during his escape from custody.

Gallery (7 photos)