The Riverton man accused of leading Fremont County law enforcement on a 130-mph car chase through a construction zone last week could face up to seven years and 40 days in prison, court documents say.
Seth Alberto Smith, 23, is scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing Tuesday in Riverton Circuit Court.
Fremont County Deputy Attorney Jonah Buckley charged Smith on June 23 with:
• One count of aggravated fleeing — punishable by up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines.
• DUI — up to six months in jail and $750 in fines.
• Reckless endangering — up to one year in jail.
• Reckless driving — up to six months in jail and $750 in fines.
• Open containers — up to $200 in fines.
• Highway speeding — up to 20 days in jail and $200 in fines.
• Changing lanes unsafely — up to 20 days and $200 in fines.
• Not wearing a seatbelt — up to $25 in fines.
The Chase
At about 12 minutes after 12 a.m. June 21, Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Brandon Deckert was patrolling Riverton’s busiest thoroughfare, Federal Boulevard, when he noticed tires chirping to his right, says an evidentiary affidavit filed in the case.
A dark-colored SUV in the right lane next to him sped, then slammed to a halt as if the driver had just noticed the trooper’s vehicle. Deckert flicked on his overhead lights and tried to start a traffic stop, but the vehicle sped back up and bolted northward toward the town of Shoshoni, says the document.
When the vehicle hit 100 mph, Deckert concluded it was evident that the vehicle wasn’t going to stop, the affidavit adds.
The document says Deckert radioed in to dispatch that he was in a car chase. He asked himself whether to keep chasing or quit for safety reasons, but at that hour, traffic was “extremely light,” so he held the chase.
The suspect vehicle hit 130 mph north of town, says the affidavit.
Deckert knew there weren’t on-duty troopers between there and Shoshoni who could lay stock sticks, “if that were even possible,” so he had dispatch notify Thermopolis-area troopers, and overheard Trooper Nick Warren call for Shoshoni Police Department personnel, says the document.
95 MPH Wrestling Match
Meanwhile, the Chevy Equinox with Wyoming plates swerved from shoulder to shoulder, so Deckert figured the driver was “impaired,” the affidavit says.
The driver swerved toward oncoming traffic multiple times, and vehicles bailed into the barrow ditch to avoid head-on collisions, the trooper observed.
Deckert told other personnel that he was going to perform a tactical vehicle intervention.
He struggled to close the distance between himself and the Equinox, but when the latter slowed on a curve, Deckert sped to it, bumped its right rear corner with his front left bumper corner, and accelerated into the vehicle to spin it around. Both cars were going about 95 mph during this tangle, the affidavit says.
The Equinox spun clockwise, and Deckert turned around to “pin it,” but it entered the ditch, snagged on the terrain and rolled multiple times, says the document.
Another trooper called for an ambulance “immediately,” it adds.
Shining
Deckert parked his vehicle so that its headlights blasted the Equinox, says the affidavit, and three other troopers approached the vehicle with their guns drawn.
They opened the passenger door and saw Smith lying on the passenger seat, alone in the carand not wearing his seat belt, the affidavit says.
Haller and Deckert pulled him from the car and onto the ground, where troopers handcuffed him in front of his body since he was injured, reportedly.
“Smith was screaming and reciting parts of a prayer,” says the document. Troopers were concerned he was having a mental health crisis or was heavily intoxicated.
The affidavit says they noticed an open alcohol can in the vehicle with a key hole notched into the bottom of it as if it had been “shotgunned.”
And My Wife
A Shoshoni Police Department officer arrived and brought his wife along because she’s a nurse, the document says.
She helped Smith until emergency medical personnel arrived.
Responders then “loaded Smith onto the gurney and hauled him up the hill into the ambulance,” which took him to SageWest Health Care in Riverton, says the affidavit.
A nurse at the hospital drew two vials of blood from Smith’s arm that Decker took custody of. An MRI showed smith as “clear of any suspicious injuries” and cleared to go to the Fremont County Detention Center in Lander; so Deckert took him there, the document adds.
At 6:06 a.m., about six hours after the car chase’s start, Smith submitted a blood-alcohol sample that registered at 0.109% BAC, the affidavit concludes.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
