SB I-15 reopens in Layton following police chase, shooting

LAYTON, Utah — State troopers closed southbound Interstate 15 at Hill Field Road following a police chase and shooting Wednesday morning.

Officials with the Layton Police Department said the suspect is in custody and no officers were injured.

The suspect was identified Thursday as 28 year-old Micheal John Buttel.

The suspect involved in Wednesday’s shooting on the freeway has been booked into jail on numerous charges related to the shooting, a stolen car, and other crimes. He is identified as 28 year-old Micheal John Buttel.

— Layton Police (@laytonpolice) December 2, 2022

Two southbound I-15 lanes reopened before 11 a.m. and the rest of the closure was lifted at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

The chase started after a Layton resident called 911 to report a stranger in their driveway, asleep in a car. An officer was sent to the house.

“He did see a guy sleeping in the driver’s seat and he also saw a gun sticking out of the pocket of this guy, so he backed up, called for some more assistance,” said Lt. Travis Lyman, public information officer for the Layton Police Department.

Police say the 28-year-old man asleep in the driver’s seat of the suspicious car woke up and backed out between multiple police cars, hitting one.

“One of our unmarked cars followed, not in pursuit, but followed from a distance, watching where he was going while we tried to gather some more information about maybe who he was,” Lyman said.

Layton police said the suspect, who was driving westbound on U.S. Highway 193, realized he was being followed and took off toward I-15.

“As he went through an intersection, nearing the freeway in Clearfield, we were able to deploy spikes on his car, which was successful, but he did make it onto the freeway southbound,” Lyman said.

Officers started to slow down rush hour southbound traffic on the freeway. They said the suspect’s tires were falling apart as he sped away.

Sgt. Cameron Roden with the Utah Highway Patrol said all southbound lanes were closed between mileposts 330 and 332. Surface streets, I-84 and U.S. Highway 89 were all seeing heavy traffic and delays in Davis County due to the closure.

BREAKING UPDATE: State troopers closed SB I-15 in Layton following a police chase and shooting Wednesday morning.@laytonpolice say a suspect is in custody and no officers were injured. #KSLTV

Read more: https://t.co/csAvzmyObu pic.twitter.com/3zSrVTsXvd

— KSL 5 TV (@KSL5TV) November 30, 2022

Lyman said the suspect started firing shots at officers while he was driving. Police performed a successful PIT maneuver on the driver.

“They spun the car around, were able to get out, and there was an exchange of gunfire at that point,” he said. “None of our officers were hit, but the suspect took off again.”

Police then performed a second PIT maneuver, and the driver surrendered.

“There were no shots fired in that second encounter,” Lyman said.

The suspect suffered one gunshot wound to the hip that was not life-threatening. He was transported to Ogden Regional Medical Center and will be booked into jail upon his release.

Lyman said no officers or other drivers were hurt.

“Anytime you see some critical incident like this happening, just give us as much space as you can because they never know what might happen and certainly we don’t know what’s going to happen oftentimes,” he said.

According to a press release, both Layton officers involved in the shooting have been put on administrative leave while the incident is reviewed, which is standard for all officer-involved shootings.