SANTAQUIN, Utah — After spending nearly a week in the hospital, the truck driver accused of killing Sgt. Bill Hooser was booked into jail on Saturday.
The arrest report for 42-year-old Michael Aaron Jayne explains what happened before and after he allegedly hit Hooser with his semi-truck, causing fatal injuries to the beloved member of the Santaquin Police Department.
Jayne was arrested for the following offenses:
- Aggravated murder (1st-degree felony)
- Murder (1st-degree felony)
- Murder (1st-degree felony)
- Aggravated kidnapping (1st-degree felony)
- Aggravated burglary (1st-degree felony)
- Receive or transfer of stolen vehicle (2nd-degree felony)
- Receive or transfer of stolen vehicle (2nd-degree felony)
- Receive or transfer of stolen vehicle (2nd-degree felony)
- Failure to respond to officer's signal to stop (3rd-degree felony)
As previously reported, Utah Highway Patrol responded to a call reporting that someone was riding on the back of a semitrailer last Sunday shortly before 6 a.m. The newly released arrest report states that the caller did not give his name, but added that the truck driver was being targeted by the "Hells Angels." No further details on this statement were given, and it's still not clear whether there actually was someone on the back of Jayne's trailer.
Hooser responded to assist UHP as the truck passed through Santaquin on I-15. He spotted the truck and made a traffic stop. He and a UHP trooper, who arrived shortly after Hooser, walked up to the driver's side of the truck cab to speak with Jayne, telling him that he was not in trouble and that they were there to help him. However, the report says he was uncooperative and would not answer their questions.
While the trooper was looking at the truck's electronic log he received from Jayne, court records state that a woman "emerged from the sleeper section of the cab and jumped out of the passenger side door." She then ran to the back of the trailer and put her hands up. Hooser spoke with her, and then made a gesture "indicating they needed to remove the driver and detain him."
The trooper returned to the cab, where he told Jayne to exit the truck while simultaneously reaching for the door handle. Jayne then locked the doors and drove off. That's when he made a U-turn, drove toward the officers and the woman, and hit Hooser, pinning him against the UHP vehicle and killing him.
According to court documents, Jayne then steered toward the trooper and the woman. The woman alerted the trooper, who had his back turned, that the truck was coming toward them, and the two were able to "narrowly" escape being hit.
Later, in an interview with police, the woman said she had been riding voluntarily with Jayne in his truck up until they got into a fight at a truck stop in Beaver. She said he drove off, but then returned and tried to convince her to come with him multiple times, but she refused. She said during his final attempt, he threatened her with a knife and "chemical bear spray," and she got back in the truck due to his threats. Jayne's arrest report says she jumped out when he was distracted during the traffic stop, and she was "pleading for help" when she talked to Hooser.
After hitting and killing Hooser, Jayne got out of his truck and ran to a nearby gas station, where he stole a different semi that was unlocked with the keys inside. He then drove south to the town of Mona, where he abandoned the stolen semi and stole a Ford F-250 with the keys inside. After that, he drove south to Nephi, then southeast to Mount Pleasant.
In Mount Pleasant, he drove to a house in a remote area where nobody was home. The report states that he looked in the windows, then drove the stolen F-250 into the garage and entered the house. He stole the keys to a Ford F-150, along with a pair of boots, and then drove off in the newly-stolen F-150.
Jayne then drove to Vernal, where UHP troopers spotted the truck after the owners reported it stolen. Troopers said he fled from them at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour and swerved toward oncoming vehicles. Troopers performed a PIT maneuver (Pursuit Intervention Technique), causing Jayne to lose control and crash. He was then taken into custody, but had to be taken to the hospital to be treated for serious injuries.
The arresting officer wrote that Jayne has an "extensive criminal history with violent offenses" over the past 20 years or more. Those include an incident in which he tried to run over an officer in Oregon in 2009, along with several other convictions for violent crime.
Jayne, who is from Garrett, Indiana, was ordered by a judge to be held without bail in the Utah County Jail.
Hooser's funeral service will be held Monday starting at 10 a.m. in Orem. He will later be buried in Santaquin. Watch FOX 13 News on the air and online for coverage of the services.
