The driver kept going, crossing the median again and heading back down the canyon. About a mile later, the driver crossed the median again into the eastbound lanes, where he was struck by a tanker truck hauling ethanol. The chase had lasted about 30 minutes.

The driver of the fleeing vehicle, Douglas E. Cottrell, 57, was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators believe Cottrell was from the Wasatch Front but were still looking for an exact residence Monday.

A check of Utah state court records showed Cottrell has had numerous civil suits filed against him since 1984 for failure to pay for various services. Most recently, an eviction notice was filed in court against him a year ago.

I-80 was shut down in both directions Sunday. One lane of westbound traffic was opened a short time later. Eastbound traffic remained closed until 10 p.m.

Edmunds admits his department's chase policy is "aggressive" but said it mirrored the policies of several other departments. Although the policy and the incident will be reviewed, he said, the unpredictable actions of Cottrell made him a danger to the public.

"I know at one point our supervisor and deputy talked about if it's just a fraud and we know who it is, let's let him go and get him later," said Wall. "But then we also looked at the fact he's all over the road, and they were concerned about the public safety risk if we let him go."

The detective said like all pursuits, Sunday's chase was a rapidly evolving situation that was constantly monitored and evaluated by a supervisor and deputies.

Edmunds added that his deputies take many factors into consideration during a chase. But the bottom line is, "If you're going to run, we're going to chase you. If a pursuit appears too dangerous, (deputies) can call it.

"This was a desperate individual. Why he was so desperate? I don't know if we'll ever have the answer to that," he said. "All we were attempting to do was make a traffic stop, get his side of the story and find out what's going on. We didn't know what we had."

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E-mail: preavy@desnews.com