ST. GEORGE — A man who is accused of stealing an all-terrain vehicle in St. George also led police on a high-speed chase through Hurricane after he tried to sell it on Sunday.
Bradley Joseph Brostrom, 27, of St. George, allegedly stole the side-by-side ATV from the front of a house in St. George. St. George Police received information that the stolen ATV may be in Hurricane, which is when Hurricane Police officers got involved in the case, said Ken Thompson, public information officer for Hurricane Police Department.
A few days after the ATV was stolen, Brostrom allegedly tried selling an ATV to someone who turned out to be the son of one of the ATV owner’s neighbors, according to the probable cause statement. The owner of the stolen ATV told police about the planned sale to his neighbor’s son, so police officers went to the Hurricane home on 400 South where the sale was supposed to take place on Sunday.
“As officers were standing down the street of the address, officers heard an ATV start in the back of the residence that the sale was going to take place at,” wrote the arresting officer on the probable cause statement.
The ATV, which was being driven by Brostrom, drove around to the front of the house and started to speed away down the street when officers commanded him to stop, according to the probable cause statement.
Brostrom started driving about 60 mph down residential streets with a 30 mph speed limit and also ran several stop signs as he was being pursued by officers, police said.
“The (ATV) was traveling through several different neighborhoods of Hurricane with a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons and property,” wrote the responding officer on the probable cause statement.
Brotrom drove straight through a wire fence to evade officers, police said. At that time, police lost track of him for a few minutes until the ATV ran out of gas on state Route 59 just south of Hurricane.
Police officers were able to arrest Brostrom without further incident on the side of SR-59, Thompson said. The whole chase only lasted a few minutes and besides the broken wire fence there were no other properties damaged or injuries as a result of the chase, Thompson said.
Officials also found marijuana rolled up in a $1 bill in Brostrom’s pocket as he was being arrested, police said.
He was booked into the Purgatory Correctional Facility and charged with stealing a vehicle, fleeing police in a vehicle, reckless driving, driving on a suspended license and possession of drugs and paraphernalia. Brostrom’s bail was set at $17,380, and he remains in custody at the time of this report.
According to court documents, Brostrom has a nine-year history of charges including drug distribution, theft and aggravated assault in Washington County.
This report is based on statements from police and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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