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HEBER CITY — Two people were arrested Wednesday after a deputy received a random text message from a stranger offering to sell drugs.
The text was sent about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to a Wasatch County sheriff's deputy and stated, "Who need bud," which the deputy interpreted as marijuana.
"With the belief that the individual was distributing controlled substances, I went along with it and arranged a time and place to meet along with the amount I wanted to purchase and the price. The individual texted and called me throughout the day confirming he was on his way to my location," the deputy wrote in a police booking affidavit states.
Just before 1 p.m., a car arrived at a gas station in Heber City. Mahaddie Ishraezeliq Underwood, 24, got into an undercover deputy's car and a drug transaction was made, the affidavit states.
"During the course of this transaction other law enforcement officers with Wasatch Back Major Crimes Task Force, Wasatch County Sheriff's Office, and Heber City Police Department were staged in vehicles around the corner observing via a video and audio feed from a cellphone that I had in my possession. Once the transaction concluded, they approached in marked law enforcement vehicles and uniforms," the affidavit says.
But rather than stop, police say Underwood ran back to the car he had arrived in and told the driver, Kayla Ashlyn Moore, 20, to go.
The vehicle backed out of its parking spot at a high rate of speed, then "accelerated forward, squelching the tires" and hit a police vehicle while exiting the parking lot, the affidavit alleges.
A short car chase ensued for about six blocks before the fleeing vehicle stopped. Underwood got out of the car and ran for another block before he was tackled by officers and taken into custody.
The officer who was hit was taken to Heber Valley Medical Center to be evaluated. An updated condition on him was not immediately available Thursday.
Underwood and Moore were each arrested and charged Thursday in 4th District Court with aggravated assault targeting law enforcement, a first-degree felony; and failing to stop at the command of police and drug distribution, third-degree felonies. Underwood is also being held for suspicion of additional counts of drug possession with intent to distribute, a class A misdemeanor; and possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor.
