Enoch man arrested after leading officers on 6-mile pursuit

CEDAR CITY — An Enoch man was arrested Friday afternoon after leading officers on a six-mile pursuit that ended with a felony stop near the man’s own residence.

Closeup image of an Iron County Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicle, Cedar City, Utah, May 14, 2022 | File photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Iron County Sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Humphries said the incident occurred shortly after noon as officers in the area were seeking to locate the driver of a green Jeep for questioning regarding a trespassing incident that had been reported earlier at Discovery Ranch for Girls, located just north of Midvalley Road at approximately 4500 West.

Humphries said a U.S. Bureau of Land Management ranger who happened to be in the area spotted the vehicle near that location and attempted to make contact with the driver.

“He, at that time, refused to get out of the car and displayed a weapon,” Humphries said of the Jeep driver, adding the man proceeded to drive away, fleeing eastbound on Midvalley Road.

Multiple law enforcement officers, including Iron County Sheriff’s deputies, joined in the pursuit but their speeds did not exceed 40 mph, Humphries said.

“Normally, we wouldn’t do a pursuit anywhere around residences like that, but where a gun had been displayed and he’d already failed to obey lawful commands from an officer, is what brought it up to the level where they continued to pursue,” Humphries said. “The top speed was only 40 miles an hour.”

An anonymous Cedar City News reader filmed the pursuit with his phone as the Jeep and four law enforcement vehicles headed east along Midvalley Drive. The clip may be viewed in the player above.

Once the Jeep had turned south at the roundabout where Midvalley Road intersects with state Route 130, its driver soon made its way onto Blue Sky Drive and Magnolia Drive, where the chase ultimately ended.

Spike strips were deployed at some point toward the end of the pursuit, Humphries said.

“He was spiked and it punctured some tires, but he made it all the way through to his house on Magnolia,”  Humphries added. 

At that point, a felony stop was performed, with officers drawing their weapons and ordering the man out of the vehicle. He was then taken into custody without further incident, Humphries said.

2021 file photo for illustrative purposes only of Iron County Jail, Cedar City, Utah, Nov. 24, 2021 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

The man, identified as Russell Don Berry, 64, was subsequently booked into Iron County Jail on suspicion of multiple charges, including one count of DUI, one count of having a weapon while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, one count of driving with an open container of alcohol in the vehicle and three counts of failure to stop at command of police.

As previously reported in St. George News / Cedar City News, Berry was also charged in April for allegedly punching and kicking police officers as they were attempting to arrest him. Berry faces six misdemeanor charges in connection with that case, which is still pending in 5th District Court.

This report is based on statements from law enforcement officials and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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