15:00
The snow is still falling, and the Tundra is now back on I-15 heading southbound again and into Juab County. The entire incident in Santaquin took less than ten minutes leaving another officer alone in the snow.
In Nephi, south of Santaquin Trooper Blankenagel is about to check off duty when he hears the 10/200 while listening to the Juab County’s radio traffic. Then he turns on his emergency lights and starts to head out of town northbound on I-15.
As Trooper Blankenagel passes the 228 interchange for I-15 and SR-28 he hears about the officer shooting in Santaquin.
Meagan once again asks Angel if she can put the vehicle in four-wheel drive. Angel responds, “Yeah, you can. You better f***ing hurry.”
Meagan responds, “Okay.” They then pull over and she puts the vehicle in four-wheel drive.
Trooper Blankenagel meets up with Deputy Worwood and Taylor at the Mona interchange at exit 232 in the median of the I-15, where he gets the vehicle information from Deputy Worwood. At that point the three officers see what appears to be the suspect’s vehicle. Trooper Blankenagel engages his emergency lights and then starts to pursue the vehicle. Deputy Worwood also starts to pursue the vehicle with Deputy Taylor in the passenger seat. Deputy Worwood is driving a white Toyota pickup truck with the Juab County Sherrif logo and the word Sheriff on the side of the truck. Deputy Worwood estimates that the vehicle driven by Angel is traveling at speeds close to 110 miles per hour. Trooper Blankenagel moves into the fast lane and Deputy Worwood moves into the slow lane. Worwood is keeping the slow lane clear so that if Trooper Blankenagel needs to use it to avoid a collision it is clear for him to use.
Blankenagel gets close enough to the vehicle to verify the plate information that was given to him by Deputy Worwood. They are driving south of Mona going southbound on I-15 traveling at approximately 93 miles per hour.
Meagan sees the Trooper and Officer behind her. Angel then turns around in the cab again and slides the window open and then he shoots at the police vehicles behind them.
Trooper Blankenagel hears what he thinks is a gunshot. He looks up and sees that the rear sliding window in the truck is open and a gun and an arm are being pulled back into the truck.
Trooper Blankenagel then notifies dispatch that shots have been fired. The Trooper then slows down to increase his following distance and to minimize danger. Then he lets his supervisors know what is happening and makes arrangements for other units to assist. The vehicles have now reached speeds of 110 miles per hour.
Meagan is now stuck behind a large vehicle in the slow lane and Angel starts yelling at her to go around it. She goes around it and as she is passing it there is a car in the fast lane. The car in the fast lane stops, and angel yells, “Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Don’t f***ing stop.” Meagan keeps going and collides with the car in front of them. Angel is not wearing his seatbelt and the collision throws him forward and he hits his head on the windshield. Meagan maneuvers her way through it and continues going southbound on I-15. Angel pushes himself off the dashboard and back into his seat while saying, “Are you f***ing serious?” Meagan responds, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Meagan then starts to slow down. Angel grabs his head and yells, “Go, Go, Go.” Meagan speeds up again.
Deputy Thompson was getting in his Juan County Sheriffs Dodge Durango to start his shift when he turns on the radio and hears about an officer down. So he checks with dispatch to get additional details, and starts heading northbound from Levan towards Nephi Main street. He eventually makes it to the onramp and heads northbound on I-15. He reaches 266 and pulls his vehicle to the side of the road and gets ready to deploy a spike strip.
Vantassell is now driving his semi-trailer, a 1998 Peterbilt, towards Nephi and through the snow he sees a police vehicle off to the side shoulder with its lights on. He slows his semi down as he approaches and notices the officer standing in the middle of the freeway in the slow lane with something in his hands. At the time Vantassell thinks that the officer is putting out a traffic counter. He did not know that it was Deputy Thompson and he was getting ready to deploy a spike strip to stop the white truck that was heading towards him being followed by Trooper Blankenagel.
Vantassell turns on his engine breaks and continues to slow down as he drives past Deputy Thompson and over the un armed tire spikes. As he continues down I-15 he continues to slow down and looks in his passenger mirror to see what is going on.
As they continue southbound into Nephi on I-15 the pursuit is joined by Officer Robinson a Nephi City Police Officer. Deputy Thompson can hear the siren and see the red and blues from Trooper Blankenagel as they approach his location. So he steps out and deploys the spike strip. It was a good deploy and it spikes the suspects’ vehicle. When Trooper Blankenagel passes Deputy Thompson he is given the thumbs-up indicating that the spike strips were successful and that the white pick-up truck had struck them. They spike strip flips out of the way, so Deputy Thompson jumps back into his vehicle and follows them southbound to try to catch up to the pursuit.
Angel looks at Meagan and says, “You know I love you, and you know I wouldn’t hurt you. I’m going to get you out of this mess.”
Meagan then says, “What did you do? What did you do?” Angel dies not answer.
At the next exit Deputy Ryan also had deployed spike strips which were deployed late, and Trooper Blankenagel struck spiking all four of his tires. A vehicle and a camper trailer also hit the spike strips and lost control.
As Vantassell is watching out the passenger side mirror he sees a vehicle pulling a camper trailer lose control and start swerving all over the freeway. He then hears a loud BANG on the left side of his semi and thinks that he has blown a tire. The next thing he knows there is a white Toyota pick-up next to him. The truck pulls up next to him and as they start to pass him the passenger leans out the window and shoots two shots at the front tires of the semi.
Vantassell slows down and pulls over to the side of the road as the truck passes him. The truck is now driving on a blown tire that is now just the rim. Sparks are flying from the back of the truck as it continues south on I-15 towards Nephi. He grabs his phone and calls 9-1-1 and reports what has happened.
Trooper Blankenagel is now out of the pursuit. As he pulls off at the next exit his vehicle is passed by Officer Robinson and Deputy Worwood. Deputy Worwood and Taylor slow down, see that the camper trailer and Trooper Blankenagel are unharmed and continue their pursuit of the white truck. Deputy Worwood is now the lead vehicle followed by Officer Robinson, Deputy Thompson and Deputy Ryan.
The pursuit passes an off-white color Cadillac that tries to wave the officers down. It appears to have been in an accident. They also pass Vantassell, and his semi pulled over on the side of the road, he is also trying to wave them down. Dispatch has told him that someone will be by to help him shortly after he told dispatch what had happened.
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