SALT LAKE CITY -- Salt Lake City police had to use a Taser on a man not once but three times before they took him into custody, and the incident was caught on cell phone video.
The man who recorded the video opened up about the terrifying moments before he hit the record button.
It all transpired Tuesday morning. The video shows a suspect who takes police on a roller coaster ride, evading them at every corner. While parts of the footage seem almost comical, Ricky Heaps said he thoughts his life was over.
The video begins near the corner of 200 South and 200 West.
"It was just so odd," Heaps said, describing what's being shown in the video.
The story starts about ten minutes before, off camera, when Heaps said the suspect, Steven Carsello, tries stealing his car.
"He's hitting the door, telling me he's going to kill me, he's going to get my car--that's when I knew this was getting really serious,” Heaps said. “This wasn't just some crazy guy having a moment, somebody was about to get hurt.”
When Heaps finally got a hold of the police, several other people had already fallen victim to Carsello's antics. Police said he used an antenna to fight a random man near the post office.
"At this point Steven broke a bottle and threatened that second victim," Detective Cody Lougy of the Salt Lake City Police Department said.
Cops' first attempt to subdue him with a Taser didn't faze Carsello. Same with their second attempt. Instead, he's seen in the video running toward a utility truck.
Eight officers joined the effort to get Carsello to surrender peacefully. Cops thought they had him on the ground, until he slitherered his way underneath the truck, and then Carsello was finally handcuffed. Heaps, who is behind the lens, witnessed everything from start to finish.
"For moment I thought he was going to get shot, by the way he kept reaching for whatever he was reaching for, the last thing I thought they would do is Tase him, I thought they were going to shoot him,” Heaps said.
Carsello was booked into jail on several felony charges. Police said he is a homeless man who stays at the shelter and has an extensive criminal history. Heaps said, while the evasive suspect put on quite a show, he's thankful to the officers who were at the right place at the right time.
"My wife and kids are my world and at that moment when things started to get real, it was hard to imagine I was faced with that situation that I might not come home," he said.
