There were some tense moments for a Utah Highway Patrol trooper Thursday when a handcuffed couple allegedly tried to grab the trooper’s gun.
The incident began just before 9:30 a.m. when a Honda Accord was spotted going 111 mph on I-15 in Beaver County. Police chased the vehicle into Iron County where the vehicle still reached a speed of 110 mph and was weaving in and out of traffic, according to a police affidavit.
UHP troopers conducted a PIT maneuver on the fleeing car and stopped it, the Deseret News reports. Korie Jo Wolfe, 36, who police say was driving, immediately got out of the vehicle, but her passenger, James Edward Snow, 39, stayed in the car. He was reportedly huffing paint.
“We could see he was actively inhaling paint by spraying green spray paint into a bag and huffing it. The male had green paint on his hands, clothes, and face. The male seemed intoxicated,” the affidavit states. “After ignoring several commands to exit the vehicle, the male finally exited after finishing his abuse of the inhalant and was taken into custody.”
The couple was taken to the UHP’s field office in Cedar City for paperwork to be filled out before taking the two to jail.
A trooper wrote in an affidavit that while he was producing the booking documents the female, Wolf, although handcuffed tried to grab his duty weapon.
“Both subjects continued to advance, reaching toward me and grabbing me. I would push the female away and I struck the male with a closed fist punch to the face multiple times as they continued to advance,” according to the affidavit.
The attack reportedly ended when the trooper called for backup.
