Man in crash is wanted in Alabama

MIDVALE — A man who had been in the hospital since police say he deliberately rammed his car into the back of a large vehicle has now been booked into jail. And investigators say the man is in even more trouble than originally thought.

On Feb. 25, two people were critically injured when a man, with his 24-year-old girlfriend in the passenger seat, crashed into a parked vehicle. Investigators believe the man deliberately hit the parked truck because he had been arguing with his girlfriend and was upset. The man allegedly told the woman, "I'm going to kill you and me," according to police.

The woman suffered several broken bones and has been released from the hospital, said Midvale Police Sgt. John Salazar. The woman was placed in a safe house for domestic violence victims, he said.

The driver remained in intensive care for some time. Investigators learned that the man was Andrew Scott Lebeau, which was not the name by which his girlfriend knew him or the name he had been living under for the past few years, according to Salazar. People in Utah knew him as Jason Matthews.

Lebeau, 37, was wanted in Alabama in an auto theft that was committed about five years ago, Salazar said. Officers learned about the warrant after searching for his name in the National Crime Information Center, a national criminal database. Lebeau had managed to stay out of trouble and remain undiscovered until now, Salazar said.

Lebeau still needs assistance from a wheelchair or walker, Salazar said, but doctors said he was healthy enough to be released from the hospital and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of attempted homicide, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault and giving false information to a police officer.

The case in Alabama and Lebeau's possible extradition have been placed on hold until the charges in Utah have been adjudicated, Salazar said.

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