Footage of a violent chase involving a suspect in a Cadillac Escalade EXT ramming police cars repeatedly in the Park City, Utah area has recently been released. It shows how law enforcement had to deal with the suspect using the luxury truck like a weapon in an attempt to escape the consequences of his previous actions.
Watch a Cadillac Escalade ram parked cars in New York City.
Police were on the hunt for the Cadillac Escalade EXT after the driver got into a hit-and-run accident in Park City earlier on October 8, 2023. It was a Summit County Sheriff’s Office deputy who spotted the pickup and originally tried pulling it over.
However, the suspect wasn’t about to comply. Instead, you see in the dashcam footage after the deputy turns on his lights, the Escalade enters a roundabout the wrong way, using it to flip a quick U-turn before fleeing.
What that doesn’t work to ditch the cop, the suspect slows down, then stops. As the deputy pulls up behind, the man throws the Cadillac into reverse, ramming the cruiser hard before taking off. Little damage is visible on the truck as the driver floors it, taking off.
Then the guy slows down and just cruises along like nothing’s happening, blowing some red lights in the process. It’s bizarre behavior for someone who just rammed a deputy’s cruiser.
In another bizarre twist, the guy suddenly angles his truck at a police officer on the opposite side of the road who’s stopped with his lights going. Ever so lightly, he rams that cruiser. Seeing an opportunity, the deputy comes from behind and blocks him in.
The suspect tries reversing and driving forward repeatedly as more law enforcement officers show up. They eventually break his window and pull the suspect out of the Cadillac before he can seriously hurt himself or anyone else.
KSL reports police determined through a toxicology test that 60-year-old David Matheson Thomas of Colfax, California had used meth before the incident. That could explain his erratic behavior throughout the chase and why he fled a previous collision with another car.
Originally he was charged with two counts of assault on a police officer, a second-degree felony; failing to respond to an officer’s signal to stop, a third-degree felony; two counts of criminal mischief – reckless endanger of life, a class A misdemeanor; and reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, DUI, and interfering with an officer, class B misdemeanors.
Through a plea agreement back in November 2023 he pled guilty in court to failing to respond to an officer’s signal to stop and two counts of criminal mischief and reckless endangerment of life. The court dismissed the other charges with prejudice. He was sentenced by the judge “to an indeterminate term of not to exceed five years in the Utah State Prison.”
Do you think he should’ve faced more severe consequences or was that appropriate considering his actions?
Image via KSL News/YouTube
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