ST. GEORGE — A local man was arrested Sunday for the second time in a week after leading officers on a short pursuit that ended when he crashed the dirt bike he was riding near the Washington City library.
On Sunday afternoon, officers observed a man, who they recognized from a prior incident reported just days before, heading south on a dirt bike as it passed the Washington City Police Department on 100 East, according to charging documents filed with the court.
The officer also recollected that the bike was not registered for road use and that the rider, later identified as Roderick Yazzie, 26, was riding on a revoked license for alcohol-related offenses.
When the officer got behind the bike with lights and sirens activated near the corner of 100 East, the rider looked behind him and then “quickly accelerated in an obvious attempt to outrun the police,” the officer noted in the report.
The bike continued south on 100 East on the wrong side of the street. The rider then allegedly blew through a stop sign and turned onto 200 East, which is where the officer lost sight of the bike and terminated the pursuit.
Meanwhile, additional officers began patrolling the area in search of the suspect when one of them spotted the bike heading through a field, the report states. The motorcycle continued through the field into a parking lot where it allegedly headed straight for the first officer’s patrol vehicle that was stopped several yards away.
Yazzie allegedly sped past the officer and was located minutes later when he crashed the bike near the Washington City Library on 300 East. As police approached, the suspect jumped back on the motorcycle and attempted to swerve around one of the officers who grabbed the arm of the suspect’s sweatshirt, pulling him off of the bike and onto the ground.
An ambulance was dispatched to the scene to check on the suspect who sustained cuts and scrapes during the scuffle. He was then transported to Dixie Regional Medical Center to be medically cleared.
Because the suspect reported neck and back pain that prevented him from walking without assistance, no field sobriety test was administered at the scene.
Yazzie did submit to a breathalyzer test that allegedly revealed a blood alcohol level of .124, more than twice the legal limit in Utah. He was subsequently transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility and charged the following day.
The suspect faces two felony charges, including driving under the influence and failing to stop at the command of law enforcement, as well as driving while being an alcohol restricted driver, driving without an interlock device, reckless driving and driving on a revoked license, each a misdemeanor.
The arrest was Yazzie’s second run-in with police in Washington City within the last several days after being arrested April 14, Washington City Police Chief Jason Williams told St. George News.
During the April 14 incident, Yazzie was booked on multiple offenses after officers found him riding the same dirt bike on the sidewalk.
He was later booked into jail for multiple offenses, including urinating in public, being an interlock-restricted driver, driving without a license, obstruction of justice, a lane travel violation for riding on the sidewalk and other traffic-related offenses.
Yazzie remains in custody on the current charges and is being held without bail.
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