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Driver hits speeds up to 170 mph fleeing UHP troopers near Kanab

Utah Highway Patrol UHP
Posted at 2:48 PM, Jan 23, 2023
and last updated 2023-01-23 17:12:52-05

KANAB, Utah — A driver attempting to flee Utah Highway Patrol troopers hit speeds that would have nearly qualified him for the Daytona 500.

Jacob Zachary Reeves, 32, was arrested Thursday after troopers clocked him traveling at over 130 miles per hour, but he claimed he was actually going even faster.

Driving with a passenger in a 2013 Volkswagen Jetta on Route 89 near Kanab, Reeves passed one trooper while speeding at 95 mph in a 65 mph zone. When the trooper turned around and attempted to pull Reeves over, he reported that he had accelerated to 130 mph, according to the arrest documents.

Despite commands from other troopers to stop, Reeves kept traveling at a high rate of speed before his tires were spiked about 30 miles from where he was originally caught speeding.

Once stopped and taken to jail, Reeves admitted that he had actually reached speeds between 150-170 miles per hour during the pursuit and had been stopped two hours earlier in Arizona for speeding and driving without a license.

A check of Reeves' North Carolina license found that it was suspended at the time of the arrest.

Last week, UHP reported that troopers had already stopped 3,500 drivers for speeding in just the first two weeks of the year.