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Witness recalls dramatic scene after officer involved critical incident in West Valley City

Posted at 9:26 PM, Mar 20, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-20 23:26:46-04

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah - From her front window, Alexis Guerrero watched as a police officer rolled over the roof of a car.

“I started hearing loud male voices,” Guerrero said. She lives less than a mile from Hunter High School and was getting ready for work around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“I noticed something wasn’t right because of the way he was holding on to the car and kept telling them to stop,” she said of the officer.

Granite School District says one of their officers was in the neighborhood looking for students who were skipping class. The officer spotted a Honda at a nearby park.

“He approached the vehicle and there appeared to be five males of student age, between the ages 16-18 years old,” said Spokesperson Ben Horsley. “As he got out of the vehicle, he could immediately smell the scent of marijuana.”

Guerrero said when the officer approached the car, the driver hit the gas.

“It was chaotic,” she said. “The last thing I saw was him getting hit by the side of the car. So, he did end up on the roof of the car.”

Guerrero said the driver only made it about a 100 yards down the road because the officer managed to get a shot off, hitting the driver. The other four passengers bailed out of the car after that.

“He was awake, but he couldn’t talk,” Guerrero said of the driver. “He was moaning out of the pain and you could tell he was hurt.”

The driver remains in critical condition, the officer has been released from the hospital with minor injuries.