Utah Highway Patrol officer Mike Holt knew he was in trouble when the woman he had placed under arrest and put in his patrol car allegedly slid behind the wheel and pointed the car in his direction Wednesday night.

 Jennifer Keller, 22, had been a passenger in a car that Holt stopped for speeding on Interstate 80 north of Tooele around 11 p.m. Holt placed Keller under arrest after a background check revealed she was wanted on forgery charges in Ogden. He placed her in the front seat of his cruiser with her arms handcuffed behind her back, police said.

As Holt left the cruiser to deal with the three remaining people inside the stopped car, Keller released her seat belt, slipped her arms under her body and over her legs and moved into the driver's seat, said Lt. Ken Bryant of the Utah Highway Patrol. Holt, detecting some motion in the car, turned around just as Keller allegedly put the cruiser in gear and hit the gas.

 He landed on the hood of the car and fell off the passenger side about 20 feet later, Bryant said. Holt allowed Keller's friends to leave while he waited for help.

After turning around at mile marker 58, Keller drove east on Interstate 80 at speeds of more than 100 mph, Bryant said. Two of the stolen cruiser's tires were blown by tire spikes laid at mile marker 107. But Keller allegedly continued on the tire rims to mile marker 111 where another set of spikes took out a third tire.

Keller was taken into custody and booked into the Tooele County jail on suspicion of attempted homicide, auto theft, felony fleeing and other charges, Bryant said.

Holt was treated at an area hospital for scrapes and bruises and was released a short time later.

   

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