A Saratoga, Wyoming, man who was given a 7-foot-long tally of citations after his tailgate whipped off during a truck chase was sentenced last week to six months in jail.
Aiden Swanson, 28, was originally charged in Rawlins Circuit Court last month with a dozen criminal charges from the Nov. 10 truck chase through rough ranchland terrain that ended with Swanson fleeing on foot and being caught alongside his dog.
He pleaded guilty Dec. 11 to misdemeanor methamphetamine possession, fleeing police and an earlier charge of domestic battery dating back to an August incident.
Rawlins Circuit Court Judge Susan K. Stipe sentenced him to 180 days in jail, with credit for 34 days served, leaving him with 146 days to serve out.
After Swanson gets out of jail, he’ll spend two years on supervised probation, says the sentencing order for his domestic conviction.
He was fined $200 on each of the three convictions, plus ordered to pay $450 to the victim’s compensation fund – plus other court costs and fees.
As part of his probation, Swanson has been ordered to get substance abuse and domestic violence evaluations.
Truck Chase
Carbon County Sheriff’s Sgt. Christopher Fischer parked himself outside Aiden Swanson’s house in Saratoga at about 2:40 p.m. on Nov. 10, to arrest Swanson, who had a warrant for his arrest from an earlier domestic incident, says an affidavit filed in the case.
Earlier that day Fischer had approached the front door of Swanson’s house. There he spotted a white Ford with no registration — and a brown dog. The sergeant tried returning the brown dog to Swanson, he wrote in the affidavit.
When Fischer came back for his afternoon lookout, that same white Ford truck with no registration drove past him, the affidavit says.
So Fischer turned and followed the truck, which ran a stop sign and sped up, the sergeant wrote.
Fischer turned on his emergency lights and siren. The truck accelerated down County Road 500 West, which is riddled with potholes, and zig-zagged from shoulder to shoulder, the document says.
Fischer let dispatch know the driver was eluding and driving too fast for the road conditions. He wrote in the affidavit that the truck turned off Country Road 500 and onto a private driveway belonging to Jack Creek Land and Cattle Company at 65 mph before tearing through private and federal Bureau of Land Management land.
The driver, believed to be Swanson, lost “lots of stuff from the bed of his truck.” A red gas can, the tailgate and other items whipped away from the vehicle, as Swanson pivoted the chase into the sagebrush, says the affidavit. When the driver doubled back, Fischer noticed there was a female in the passenger seat, the sergeant wrote.
The Saratoga man's tailgate whipped off during the truck chase.
Swanson drove through the private driveway and onto County Road 408 going 50 mph, the document continues.
Then he pivoted back onto County Road 500, turned west, accelerated to 77 mph and fled into the Medicine Bow National Forest, Fischer wrote.
Truck Couldn't Do It
That was when the sergeant noticed the truck wasn’t suited for the terrain.
“While traveling up the hill to the tree line it appeared that Aiden’s truck was only two-wheel drive,” Fischer wrote. “Aiden’s vehicle struggle to get up the hill, and Aiden flipped me off with his middle finger while driving.”
When Swanson finally made it to the top of the hill, he was driving on a road caked with about three inches of snow, and he slowed down, the document says. “But (he) was still driving to(o) fast for conditions.”
Swanson’s truck rolled onto its side in a ditch that was 7.3 miles from County Road 500, the affidavit says
Fischer watched Swanson get out of the truck and run down the road, up a snowy hill, leaving fresh tracks in the snow, the sergeant wrote.
Also, Swanson’s brown dog followed him.
“Stop!” yelled Fischer.
Fischer turned his attention to the woman in the car. Fischer learned she was the same woman who’d been the alleged victim in a domestic abuse case in which Swanson had been charged Aug. 13.
She confirmed that Swanson was the man who’d fled. She told Fischer that Swanson didn’t have any weapons with him though he’d left a gun in the car, the affidavit says.
A Nagging Worry
Fischer noted the time: 3:27 p.m. The sun would set soon, and the temperatures would plunge to well below freezing.
Other agents arrived to help.
They searched the truck, while other personnel prepared to use drones to search for Swanson. In the truck, one officer found a meth pipe, dust (believed to be meth) in a baggie, a rifle and an open container of Coors Lite, the affidavit alleges.
The woman said the beer was hers but denied ownership of the meth, Fischer wrote.
“When was the last time you used?” Fischer asked the woman.
Earlier in the day, she answered, according to the document. She added that she was headed to rehab the next day. The gun was Swanson’s, she added.
The suspected methamphetamine weighed in at five grams with packaging, says the document.
Agents ultimately drove about a mile and caught up to Swanson – and his dog. They took them both “into custody,” says the affidavit.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
