SALT LAKE CITY — A man in the country illegally has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for stealing a U.S. Postal Service truck in Salt Lake City at knifepoint and then ramming into multiple police vehicles before he was eventually taken into custody.
Mexican citizen Wilber Castellanos Hernandez, 33, received his sentence Wednesday after pleading guilty to carjacking for the Feb. 2024 incident. He was also sentenced to 36 months of supervised release and ordered to pay $2,828 in restitution.
Hernandez was trying to open vehicle doors in the area of 1600 West Northwood Avenue in Salt Lake City before threatening a postal employee with a knife and stealing their truck. While still in the truck, Hernandez was involved in a hit-and-run incident in Bountiful and later attempted to run over two people in a parking lot.
Dashcam video below shows Hernandez in stolen USPS truck ramming police officers:
Using GPS to track Hernandez, police later found him in the mail truck on a dead-end road in the Centerfield area. While trying to evade police, Hernandez was boxed in by police vehicles and attempted to ram his way out.
When the truck was later stopped near 500 West Porter Lane, Hernandez displayed his knife to officers, who fired their taser weapons at him multiple times. Hernandez then removed the taser probes from his body and barricaded himself in the truck while throwing objects at police.
Hernandez eventually surrendered, but allegedly bit one of the officers on the hand while they were helping to prevent his head from hitting the pavement during the arrest.
