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CEDAR CITY — Two men were arrested and drugs and weapons recovered following a police chase with a Dodge Charger that troopers say at one point reached a speed of 189 mph.
The incident began Thursday night when a Utah Highway Patrol trooper in Sevier County observed a Dodge Charger with no license plate pass him on I-70 while traveling 166 mph, according to a police booking affidavit.
Troopers were notified a short time later that the vehicle was spotted near the I-70/I-15 junction and was now going south on I-15. A trooper then spotted the Charger and attempted to pull it over as it exited the freeway toward Beaver.
Instead, when the trooper turned on his emergency lights, "the Charger moved to the shoulder of the road, passed a vehicle and reached a speed of 189 mph in an 80 mph zone," the affidavit states.
The trooper stopped chasing the car when he said he saw it traveling at approximately 70 mph down Main Street in Beaver.
At this point, officers from several agencies were looking for the vehicle which was last reported to be on state Route 21 headed toward Minersville, Beaver County. A sheriff's deputy spotted the car, which again fled onto state Route 130 toward Cedar City. Another trooper spotted the Charger traveling 88 mph on state Route 130, which has a 65 mph speed limit, and then accelerate to over 110 mph after the driver saw the trooper, the affidavit states.
The vehicle continued fleeing on state Route 130 towards Enoch. Troopers twice tried to spike the vehicle's tires but were unsuccessful, according to the affidavit.
In Enoch, a trooper used a PIT maneuver to disable the Charger.
"The vehicle came to a stop and both the driver, Cristian Sanchez Luna, 21, and the passenger, Ethan Antone Mason, 21, exited the vehicle. The driver exited the vehicle and threw an AR-style rifle over the fence to the south and was taken into custody without incident. The passenger exited the vehicle and ran away from the vehicle on foot but was taken into custody a short time later," according to the arrest report.
After the Charger was towed, a search warrant was served and marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms and drug paraphernalia were seized, the affidavit states.
Mason and Luna were booked into the Iron County Jail for investigation of two counts of drug possession with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm by a restricted person, failing to respond to an officer's signal to stop, obstruction of justice, marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. Luna was also arrested for investigation of reckless driving, while Mason was arrested for investigation of an additional count of failing to stop for police for allegedly running after the car was stopped.
Police say both men also have warrants out for their arrests in other jurisdictions.
