Suspect gives up after ‘high speed, low speed’ police chase

By Lloyd Call

Associate publisher

2-10-2021

EPHRAIM—An incident the Ephraim police chief described as “a high-speed, low-speed” police chase unfolded last week between the Sanpete County Jail and a residential street in Ephraim.

Chief Aaron Broomhead told the Ephraim City that Micah Billing was at the jail Tuesday, Feb. 2 when he was informed he was going back to prison.

Billings ran to his car and took off, heading north. Police cars pursued, but the strange thing, Broomhead said, was that he didn’t exceed the speed limit.

He went through Manti at 35 mph, then between Manti and Ephraim on U.S. 89, he went no more than 45 mph, avoiding a road spike set up by police by simply swerving around it. Road spikes are designed to be used when a car is going fast so it doesn’t have time to evade the spikes.

Police also blocked some roads in Ephraim to side traffic entering U.S. 89 and the number of police cars continued to increase.

The chase was recorded on camera by Ephraim City worker Wyatt Anderson, who was in a utility truck above Main Street doing upgrading on Ephraim’s traffic light. He said, “After going through the light, the runaway driver eventually pulled over, giving up the chase.”

According to the Sanpete County Sheriff’s office spokesman Derick Taysom, police took him into custody. He will be charged with violating his probation, and probably driving citations.

Thus, one of the strangest police chases in Sanpete came to a close.