MIDVALE, Utah — A woman who was driving a U-Haul truck was arrested Wednesday night following a pursuit through Midvale and Sandy after police say she injured a tow truck driver and nearly injured officers.
Brittany Laverty, 33, was booked into jail as a result of the incident, which involved multiple agencies throughout Salt Lake County.
Just before 10 p.m., officers with the Unified Police Department were waved down at Motel 6 in Midvale and a group of people reported a large U-Haul truck ran over someone in the parking lot before driving away.
Officers saw the truck leave the parking lot and a pursuit was initiated after the driver, identified as Laverty, did not yield to an attempted traffic stop.
During the pursuit, which maintained slow speeds at first, police report a tow truck was trying to catch up to the U-Haul truck, and officers stopped the tow truck to find out their relation in the pursuit.
The driver of the tow truck told officers he was the individual who had been hit in the Motel 6 parking lot and officers discovered he had a leg injury as a result of the incident.
UPD explained the U-Haul truck continued to travel South on State Street and the pursuit continued until the truck began to drive into oncoming traffic.
At that point, an unmarked police car followed the U-Haul truck at a distance until it went into a neighborhood and stopped, officials report.
Once stopping, Laverty got out of the vehicle briefly and was "challenged by a K9 and officer," before jumping back in the U-Haul and nearly running over the officers while driving away, UPD told FOX 13 News.
Officers with the Sandy Police Department spiked the front driver tire of the U-Haul truck and the pursuit continued through Sandy until Laverty once again entered oncoming traffic.
Eventually, the vehicle pursuit stopped near 9400 South and 1600 East in Sandy when the front tire of the U-Haul came off, making the vehicle immobile. However, Laverty continued to attempt to flee from police as she ran away from the scene, UPD reported.
She was soon located and after being taken to the hospital to be medically evaluated, she was booked into jail.
Two other occupants who were in the U-Haul were detained and interviewed by police before they were released.
UPD reports no officers or suspects were injured during the incident.
What charges Laverty will face as a result of the incident were not made immediately available.
