Editors Note: This article was originally published in the Aug. 2, 2023 issue of the Chronicle Progress. Some information may be outdated.
A Logan man is in jail held without bail after endangering motorists Monday morning.
Michael Howard Boren, 42, was arrested after leading deputies on a high-speed chase on Interstate 15 shortly after midnight.
According to a probable cause statement, the reporting deputy observed a vehicle that appeared to be traveling above the posted speed limit, traveling south on I-15, near mile post 172. The deputy confirmed using radar that the vehicle was traveling well over 100 miles per hour in an 80 mile per hour zone.
“Upon activating my overhead red and blue emergency lights and siren, the vehicle continued traveling South at a high rate of speed,” the report states.
Contact was lost with the vehicle for a few minutes when “the sole driver and sole occupant of the vehicle, Michael Howard Boren, exited the Interstate at mile post 167 to hide from me.”
The same deputy then observed the same vehicle heading southbound once again. Another deputy then tried to conduct a traffic stop, to which Boren allegedly failed to yield.
A Utah Highway Patrol trooper then took over the pursuit, noting the vehicle was weaving in and out of traffic, “failing to signal as he changed lanes, and at one point speeds reached upwards of 130 miles per hour.”
During one portion of the pursuit, Boren turned off his headlights in a further attempt to evade capture. His vehicle was successfully spiked near milepost 117 in Beaver County.
During an attempted PIT maneuver, Boren slammed on his brakes, causing a UHP trooper to crash into the rear of Boren’s vehicle.
“The trooper could have sustained substantial or fatal injury with that act,” the report states. “Michael assaulted a peace officer using his vehicle as a dangerous weapon.”
A records check later revealed Boren had recently been paroled in Colorado after being imprisoned there for 10 years.
Boren is charged with second-degree felony assault on a peace officer, third-degree felony failure to stop to officers signal to stop, class B misdemeanor reckless driving and infraction speeding in 100 miles or more per hour.
