Convicted felon hides in scrapyard after hitting police vehicle with stolen car

SALT LAKE CITY — A convicted felon was arrested after at least two attempts to escape police, according to recently obtained body-camera footage.

On June 3, 2025, West Valley City police officers responded to a medical assistance call at an apartment complex parking lot, according to the police affidavit. When officers arrived, they spoke to the driver of a white truck, whom paramedics were treating, and told him the manager had trespassed him from the property.

Officers searched the information on the truck and discovered it was reported stolen a few days prior.

Body-camera footage obtained by KSL shows officers attempting to get the driver, later identified as William Winn, 47, out of the truck by opening the door and ordering him to get out.

Winn started the truck and drove backward into a fire truck, then drove forward over the curve on the grass and continued to flee from police.

According to charging documents filed at Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court, officers pursued Winn before ending the chase. Two days later, police located the stolen truck abandoned.

Later, on Oct. 12, 2025, Salt Lake City police officers responded to an alert of a stolen passenger car at a gas station. Again, body-camera footage shows officers attempting to block the car from escaping, but the driver, later discovered to be Winn, crashed into a marked police vehicle and drove away.

Minutes later, officers were informed that Winn had crashed the car on northbound Interstate 215 and fled on foot. Officers searched for over an hour for Winn and, using K-9 help, ultimately found him hiding in the trunk of a car in a scrapyard.

"Officers gave William commands to exit the vehicle, and he did not comply, resulting in officers having to use force to gain compliance," the affidavit states.

Court records show Winn also allegedly ran in another arrest attempt in September 2025.

Winn faces various charges of theft by receiving stolen motor vehicle, assault on peace officer with use of dangerous weapon, property damage over $5,000, all second-degree felonies; as well as failure to respond to an officer's signal to stop, failure to respond to an officer's signal to stop, property damage under $1,500, interfering with a police officer and interfering with a police officer.

Winn pleaded guilty to theft by receiving stolen motor vehicle, failure to respond to an officer's signal to stop, property damage, failure to respond to an officer's signal to stop, and interfering with a police officer, while the remainder of the charges were dismissed with prejudice.

In April, Winn was sentenced to five years in the Utah State Prison.

He was charged and later convicted of several other incidents, including felony charges of fleeing police in a stolen vehicle in 2021.

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