A man held a woman against her will in his truck before killing a Utah officer, police said

PROVO – The semi-truck driver accused of intentionally striking and killing a Santaquin police sergeant has been released from the hospital and transferred to the Utah County Jail.

Police say he held a woman against her will in the cab of his truck shortly before the murder.

Michael Aaron Jayne, 42, of Garrett, Indiana, was booked into jail Saturday on investigation of aggravated murder against law enforcement, attempted aggravated murder against law enforcement, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, attempted murder, three counts of vehicle theft and fleeing police.

Jayne is accused of striking and killing Santaquin Police Sgt. Bill Hooser on May 5th. Shortly before 6 a.m., police dispatchers received a report of a semi-truck in the northbound lanes of I-15, “with a person in the back of the trailer.” The caller told dispatch that the Hells Angels were the driver of the truck in their sights. The caller did not want to give his name,” a police affidavit states.

“Sgt. “Bill Hooser of the Santaquin Police Department was standing in the median of the highway and spotted the tractor-trailer as it approached the Santaquin Main Street exit,” the affidavit states. “Sgt. Hooser quickly caught up with the tractor-trailer that had exited at mile marker 244, then passed the stop sign at the end of the exit ramp without stopping and proceeded up the ramp to get back onto the northbound I-15 freeway.”

Hooser then turned on his emergency lights to stop the semi, which they did. At approximately the same time, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper arrived on scene. Both officers began speaking to Jayne through the driver’s side window.

‘Try to help’

“The driver, later identified as Michael Aaron Jayne, was uncooperative and did not respond to officers’ questions. The officers made several attempts to convince Jayne of the reason for the stop and to reassure him that he had no problems with them. They told Jayne that they were there and were trying to help,” the affidavit states.

But at that point, a woman came out of the sleeping area of ​​the cab of the tractor-trailer, jumped out the passenger door and ran toward the officers with her hands raised, the arrest report said. After the woman spoke briefly with Hooser, the sergeant gestured to the officer that Jayne needed to be arrested.

“(The officer) grabbed the door handle of the truck while simultaneously asking the driver to get out of the vehicle. While he was doing this, Jayne immediately locked the door, put the vehicle in gear and continued driving north,” the affidavit states.

The officers then ran back to their vehicles.

“As they ran with their backs toward the fleeing tractor-trailer, the driver, Jayne, made a sharp U-turn in the northbound lane and drove directly south toward the officers and the woman. According to the affidavit, Jayne accelerated the tractor-trailer very quickly until black smoke began to billow from the exhaust stack as it continued toward the two officers and the woman.

Sergeant. Hooser

“Sgt. “Hooser was in the doorway of his patrol car when he saw Jayne and the tractor-trailer speeding toward him,” the affidavit states. He then began running toward the back of his patrol car when “Jayne turned the truck directly toward Sgt. Hooser.” Jayne accelerated the tractor-trailer until it hit Sgt. Hooser is back.”

Hooser was crushed between the tractor-trailer and the trooper’s patrol car and killed.

Investigators say Jayne then attempted to strike the officer and the woman, who both “jumped and ran, respectively, out of the path of the oncoming tractor-trailer and narrowly escaped the attack.”

Jayne drove about 30 yards, stopped on the side of the road and then ran, jumping over a fence along State Route 198. According to police, Jayne went to a nearby gas station where he unsuccessfully attempted to steal two cars before finding an unlocked semi-truck with the keys inside.

Jayne drove the tractor-trailer south near Mona, Juab County, and then abandoned it. Jayne then stole another vehicle with the keys left inside, a 1976 Ford F-250, and drove south to Nephi and then to Mt. Pleasant in Sanpete County, the affidavit states.

He then found a house where no one was staying and stole a Ford F-150, police said.

Later that morning, cops located Jayne 170 miles away near Vernal after the truck’s owners reported it had been stolen. Investigators said he attempted to flee at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour until police were able to catch up with him and successfully complete a PIT maneuver, causing Jayne to lose control of his vehicle and crash. Jayne was arrested and taken to a hospital for medical treatment.

When police interviewed the woman found in Jayne’s tractor-trailer, she said she initially got into his vehicle voluntarily. But after getting into an argument at a rest stop in Beaver, she said she refused to get back into his semi-truck. Jayne initially drove off, but returned to the woman and threatened her “with chemical bear spray and a knife” to get back in the truck, which she did, the arrest report said.

Extensive criminal history

In the affidavit, police note that “Jayne has an extensive criminal history of violent offenses over the past 20-plus years,” including convictions for assaults and threats against police, resisting arrest, evading crime and domestic violence. He is currently on federal probation.

As of Sunday, no formal criminal charges had been filed against him.

Hooser’s funeral service will be Monday morning in Orem.