Car rams into police vehicles, collides with home

SALT LAKE CITY — Sergio DeLaCruz was preparing for a day of selling tacos Thursday when he saw a car push two others and start driving on the sidewalk.

"I thought he was going to turn this way," he said. "I was scared. I felt like he was going to push me over. I was ready to run or jump or something."

The vehicle was one under surveillance by police officers from the motor vehicle enforcement department of the State Tax Division, Sgt. Bruce Timothy said. When officers tried to block the car to keep it from leaving the 200 East 300 South area, the driver of the stolen Chevrolet Impala hit two separate vehicles with police officers inside.

"I tried to block him off and he rammed my car," Timothy said, explaining that his was one of the two vehicles that was struck. "(There were) no injuries to any police officers at this point."

The suspect did not appear to be armed. He fled from the scene immediately after. "He was very desperate and extremely reckless when he left here," Timothy said.

Within 15 minutes, the man had driven to California Avenue and was heading east around 11 a.m. when he struck a vacant home at 1465 W. California Ave, according to Utah State Tax Commission spokesman Charlie Roberts. Two small, neighborhood dogs were in the home at the time and were killed from the impact of the collision.

"(The driver) was pinned in for several minutes," Roberts said. "He was unconscious at the time and was taken to a local hospital."

The name and age of the driver have not been released. Roberts said the man had broken vertebrae in his back and neck in addition to sustaining several head injuries.

Andre Taveras lives in the home immediately east of the one that was hit and said he initially thought the "big explosion" he heard was an earthquake. He said he grabbed his children and woke up his sleeping wife.

"Then I look through the window and I see debris flying and rocks," he said. "Then I thought it was an explosion."

Taveras estimated that as many as 20 police cars pulled up to the scene and, soon after, the car caught fire. He again worried there would be an explosion, but police officers arrived soon after to check for injuries and assure them that everything was fine.

Taveras said if the car had hit the same place in his own home, it would have been where his wife was sleeping.  

"I'm still shaking," Taveras said. "That's crazy. I don't know why people do stuff like that, you know? If you get pulled over, you do something bad, you need to stop."

Roberts said police are waiting for the suspect to gain consciousness before releasing his name.

E-mail: hollenhorst@desnews.com