SOUTH JORDAN, Utah — A police pursuit ended in a fiery explosion Tuesday night after officers tried to catch a man they believe stole a truck and trailer.
It was an arrest that bystanders, and even law enforcement, have never seen before.
“Just kind of a crazy situation,” said Sgt. Melody Cutler with the Unified Police Department.
“Exhilarating. Nauseating. Insane,” said Denim Blackham, who witnessed the arrest and explosion. “It was just crazy.”
Cutler said a Unified Police Department spotted a stolen truck and trailer in the Millcreek area. Officers continued to follow it and even laid out a spike strip in hopes of stopping it.
According to arrest documents, the vehicle was “traveling at a high rate of speed and drove into oncoming traffic numerous times.”
“He just kept going and going to the point where the tires fell off and he was driving on rims,” said Cutler.
Cutler said the driver, 39-year-old Trent Kezior, crashed in a Zion’s Bank parking lot in the Daybreak area in South Jordan. He sat in the front seat of the truck for minutes as it caught fire.
“You can watch as that fire continues to move forward up into the backseat of that vehicle,” said Cutler.
“I’d say he was probably just railing on the gas, redlining it, blasting it. Trying to blow up the truck for about fifteen minutes,” said Blackham.
In the video, you can see the driver make a break for it, but a random bar patrol in a yellow shirt steps in to nail him with his shoulder. The driver falls to the ground where officers jump into action to arrest him.
“You see him in the video: run, jump, push,” said Alyssa Brown. “It was crazy.”
Kezior was arrested and faces multiple charges including transferring a stolen vehicle, failure to stop at law enforcement command, and reckless burning.
There was a passenger in the truck at the time who told law enforcement they couldn’t escape because of the “erratic driving.” Kezior also faces aggravated kidnapping charges.
