SANTAQUIN, Utah — A Utah police officer was killed on May 5 after authorities say an 18-wheeler rammed into him and his cruiser.
According to a police report, Santaquin Police Sgt. Bill Hooser and a Utah Highway Patrol trooper responded shortly before 6:30 a.m. to a report of a person standing on the back of a moving tractor-trailer along Interstate 15.
Hooser and the trooper attempted to pull over the 18-wheeler, driven by 42-year-old Michael Aaron Jayne, but Jayne refused and instead circled back and began traveling the wrong way on the interstate, fatally striking Hooser and the trooper’s cruiser.
The trooper was not injured.
Jayne fled the scene on foot, then allegedly stole a pickup truck. A police pursuit began but quickly ended with Jayne crashed the pickup in the Vernal area.
Police didn’t mention what happened to the person standing on Jayne’s trailer.
“Our entire department is hurt. And the family of the officer is hurt because of a senseless act by one individual,” said Lt. Cory Slaymaker with the nearby Spanish Fork Police Department.
Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and raised in East Texas, John Worthen returned to his home state to attend college in 1998 and decided to make his life in The Natural State. Worthen is a 20-year veteran of the journalism industry and has covered just about every topic there is. He has a passion for writing and telling stories. He has worked as a beat reporter and bureau chief for a statewide newspaper and as managing editor of a regional newspaper in Arkansas. Additionally, Worthen has been a prolific freelance journalist for two decades, and has been published in several travel magazines and on travel websites.
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