[JV] In Wisconsin, a carjacking dramatically escalates.
[woman]
[siren blaring]
[Officer Hartmann] Essentially, he's got a hostage with him.
It's a very frightening situation.
[JV] And in Utah, a home invasion
turns into a frenzied fire rescue.
[woman]
[Officer Alex] There was just billowing thick black smoke.
[suspect]
I did fear for my own life. I was going to have to go back in.
[indistinct chatter on dispatch]
[woman] Shots fired.
[man] Yeah, drop it, go outside.
[JV] In Wisconsin,
twenty five miles north of its capital, Madison,
is Columbia County.
[dispatch]
[Iulia]
[dispatch]
[Iulia]
[dispatch]
[Iulia]
I was sitting in a parking lot reviewing reports,
when the call came out about somebody driving a car
that didn't have permission and that there was still
someone inside that vehicle who was making the 911 call.
[dispatch]
[Iulia]
[dispatch]
[Iulia]
[dispatch]
[Iulia]
[dispatch]
[JV] The victim, Iulia, is trapped in the back seat of the SUV
after an unknown male carjacked the vehicle.
[Sgt. Stage]
[dog barking]
[Sgt. Stage]
I immediately got the adrenaline rush.
I knew it was crucial to locate that female and get her to safety.
[engine accelerating]
[officer on radio]
[dispatch]
[Iulia]
The piece of information that the victim provided with being
at a gas station was crucial as only
one gas station is open during that time of the night.
My name is Daria Soltescu.
We were coming from Minnesota, back home to Chicago.
It was my mom, my dad and one of my dad's friends, Monty.
We stopped on our journey because we needed to use the restroom.
My mom doesn't get out of the car because she was asleep.
We walked out of the gas station
and that's when we discovered the car is gone.
I did not know where my mom was.
There was that fear.
I knew that there was something deeply wrong.
The first officers that arrived let us know that my mom was calling 911.
It felt surreal.
I couldn't even imagine what she was feeling.
[dispatch]
[Iulia]
[suspect]
[Iulia]
[suspect]
[Iulia]
[suspect]
[Iulia]
[Sgt. Stage] She was yelling at the man, who was driving the vehicle
multiple times to slow down and to let her out.
Dispatch could hear the male in the vehicle refusing to pull over or stop.
We are not sure what the male driver is capable of at this point.
[JV] Police currently don't know the suspect's motivation or if he's armed.
For now, they must treat this as a carjacking and kidnapping.
[officer]
[Officer Tester]
I was working in the southwestern corner of the county.
I couldn't believe that it was an actual call.
[dispatch]
[Iulia]
She had an understanding that he was impaired
at the time,
so I personally can't imagine the stress that she had.
Based off the threat level, I had to close out the incident that I was on
and immediately head to the kidnapping call.
[dispatch]
[Officer Hartmann] In Columbia county, carjackings aren't that common.
So, I'm feeling,
"Okay, this is something big.
We gotta find this vehicle as soon as we can."
[Sgt. Stage] Columbia County is a large, spread out rural county.
But we were looking for a needle in a haystack
as far as the time of that night, the vast area that we're in.
[dispatch]
[Iulia]
[Officer Hartmann] Essentially, he's got a hostage with him.
This guy could have a weapon on him.
It's a very frightening situation.
[dispatch]
[Iulia]
[dispatch]
[Iulia]
[officer]
That sign is just a short distance outside the center of the city of Lodi.
It was crucial for us to know what direction to start looking.
I was becoming increasingly concerned for her safety.
[dispatch]
[Iulia]
[dispatch]
I knew it was Crystal Lake right away
and I was already heading that direction. I was maybe five miles out.
I'm going probably 100 miles per hour plus.
At every corner you go around, it's like, "Where are they?"
It was very, very frustrating in that moment 'cause you're...
you're right on top of this vehicle, but you can't see it.
And you're thinking to yourself,
"I should be seeing that."
You think in your head like, is this even real?
[Sgt. Stage]
[officer]
[JV] At the truck stop, the victim's daughter, Daria,
calls in with vital information about her mom.
[dispatch]
[Daria]
[dispatch]
[Daria]
I realized that I'm tracking mom's phone
and I saw that the location was moving.
It was actually a moment of happiness.
I had access to her location and I could help.
I felt a bit in control of the situation,
that at least we were able to locate the car.
[dispatch]
[Daria]
[dispatch]
[Daria]
[Sgt. Stage] Once a vehicle can be tracked,
then we were able to create a perimeter
of squad cars to intercept this vehicle.
[siren blaring]
[officer]
[Reimer]
[Daria] I was trying to give directions,
I couldn't keep up with how fast he was driving.
I knew that if I didn't stay calm, that I would lose time.
If I lose time, then my mom has less chances of surviving.
[Iulia]
[dispatch]
[Iulia]
Eventually, she gave off a good land marker with a Merrimac Ferry crossing.
I headed in the direction of where there was a high probability of the vehicle.
[Iulia]
[dispatch]
[JV] Suddenly, Julia's cell phone dies, cutting off all communication.
[Sgt. Stage]
[officer]
[Sgt. Stage]
[siren blaring]
[Officer Tester]
I was able to locate the vehicle just heading towards
the direction of the Merrimac Ferry crossing.
But there's still a lot of intersections and a lot of farm roads, windy roads.
If the subject would have made one turn off of 188,
it would have been back to a needle in a haystack again.
The rate of speed was alarming.
Some of those corners are rated for 15 miles per hour.
I was anticipating a pretty dangerous crash.
[dispatch]
[JV] With multiple units now in pursuit...
[Sgt. Stage]
[JV] ...Columbia County Sheriff's Deputy, Jordan Reimer,
deploys stop sticks in the path
of the suspect vehicle.
[Reimer]
I was hoping that he would give up,
but he had no intentions of stopping.
He was like, at an ice rink. He's just skating around the road.
He's obviously very determined to get away.
[Officer Tester]
My father and I were able to receive updates
and we heard that the tires are gone.
I was worried.
That guy would not stop. Even without tires, he would not stop.
[Officer Tester]
Speeds were close to 100 miles per hour, with three rims and one tire.
I've never heard of that.
Eventually, the vehicle is coming back in my direction.
I grabbed my spike strips, and then, proceeded to wait for the vehicle.
There's three or four other attempts prior to that,
and it happened to be that there's still one tire left on the vehicle.
And after me, there was no other spike strips set up.
I know I gotta hit that tire or this vehicle might just keep going.
[Officer Hartmann] My adrenaline's really high.
Obviously, it's a high priority call.
We had a female in this vehicle with a stranger, an unknown male,
so we gotta make sure we get this vehicle off the road.
[Officer Hartmann] So, when the vehicle passed, I saw him go over the spikes.
A sense of relief, so to say, that hopefully, this is gonna come to an end very soon.
[Sgt. Stage] However, that was not the situation.
He decided to keep driving
even with no tires on at this high rate of speed.
[Officer Hartmann] I have never heard of a suspect
driving over that many spikes and continue to go.
He's on all four rims and he's continuing to go.
We had limited options at this point.
[Brown]
[Officer Hartmann] He was hitting guard rails,
oncomings going in the ditch, he was going in on coming traffic.
And it was speeds that were still 45-50 miles per hour.
All four tires are popped.
He's on all rims now.
The faster we end it, the better it is.
[Sgt. Stage]
[Deputy Tester] With the pit maneuver,
the biggest thought that I had was the risk that was
posed to the victim being inside the vehicle.
[Brown]
I'm a trooper with the Wisconsin State Patrol.
I had taken command in the pursuit.
Pit maneuver is definitely one of our last resorts.
It's a form of ramming, making a controlled contact
with the back end of the vehicle.
[Brown] I believe that the pit maneuver was our only chance to stop the vehicle.
I've been trained to perform a pit maneuver for over two years now.
[Brown] But prior to this situation, I had never performed the pit.
There is definitely that nervousness.
With the pit maneuver comes
high risk of injury or the possibility of death.
[Sgt. Stage]
[dispatch]
[Sgt. Stage] As I watched the vehicle sliding into the parking lot,
it was like everything slowed down and slow motion kicked in.
[Officer Tester] My main concern that
the suspect was gonna continue to try to drive away.
I mean, he had a great will to evade up to that point.
Using my bumper, I pinned the vehicle in to ensure that
he wasn't able to drive away.
[Brown] My first thought is get out and hold cover on the vehicle.
We don't know if the suspect has any weapons.
[Sgt. Stage]
[Brown] Hell, we don't know if he's going to
turn this into a hostage situation.
[Sgt. Stage]
[Officer Tester]
[Sgt. Stage] The female is still trapped in the vehicle.
I'm extremely concerned for her safety and want to get her out as fast as I can.
[Officer Tester]
Once I open the door and...
saw a female subject in there,
crying and extremely shaken up.
[Iulia]
[Officer Tester]
[Iulia]
[Officer Tester]
[Iulia]
[Officer Tester]
Very relieved she was okay, she wasn't harmed 'cause
why did this male take this female with him
if he didn't have any intention to do anything with her? I don't know.
I still don't know.
[Officer Tester] I'm just glad that
it turned out as well as it did
and that the victim was able to walk away from...
from the vehicle.
[Reimer]
Our main effort, once the victim was safe, was apprehending the suspect.
It was easy to see right away that the male was not in a normal state of mind.
As soon as he was in cuffs, I could feel a big stress relief off.
I felt like that was the first time that I could take a big breath
and analyze everything that just took place.
[JV] Police take the suspect, Kyle Wagner,
to the Columbia County Jail.
You just take a deep breath and you just tell yourself,
like, "What did I just go through?"
I mean, this is crazy.
I didn't go to bed right away when I got home.
It took me a bit to fall asleep.
The adrenaline's still going through.
[JV] More than one hour after her ordeal began,
Iulia is finally reunited with her family.
The moment I see her and she she looked so scared.
I've never seen my mom look so scared before.
And all I wanted to do was hug her
and tell her that she's fine now and that she's safe.
The officer to make the pit maneuver was really brave.
And for an officer to do that, to take that kind of decision
in order to save her and to give her a chance
is remarkable.
[JV] Kyle Wagner later pleads guilty
to charges of taking a vehicle without consent and fleeing officers.
He is sentenced to a total of nine years imprisonment.
This incident will remain with me for the rest of my career.
[dog barking]
I was never worried for someone's safety as much as was for this female victim.
[Daria] Because it was a happy ending,
the only way that it affected
my family is in terms of gratitude.
We're more grateful for each other.
We have an amazing sense of gratitude towards the police.
And now, every time I see a police officer
or I see a sheriff, I take the time to thank them.
[JV] In Utah, just 14 miles north of Salt Lake City,
is Centerville.
[Officer Alex] Centerville is a pretty small town.
A lot of younger population.
It's a very family based city, but still relatively small and residential.
[Officer Shaun] I would say
the best thing, as far as, you know, police officer in Centreville is that we have
huge community support from all of our citizens.
[Officer Alex] And we are able to have those positive interactions
with our community members
versus just seeing them on their worst day at their worst times.
[dispatch]
[caller]
We were getting 911 calls that afternoon for a suspicious person.
He had taken off northbound, and so, we were heading north.
And then, we got another call that he was at a house,
actually, south of that address.
[caller]
[dispatch]
[caller]
[Officer Shaun] In Centerville, we don't have a lot
of calls where someone is actively breaking into someone's house.
And so, it's a call you take very seriously.
[caller]
-[dispatch] -[caller]
[Officer Alex] Both houses that we had arrived to,
they described him to us, but he had left before we arrived.
I did feel like we were just missing him.
It was becoming frustrating to continue getting calls on this person,
and every single time we're arriving to the scene, he's already gone.
I was still driving around the area
when a call for an arson in progress came out.
[woman caller]
[dispatch]
[woman caller]
[dispatch]
[woman caller]
[dispatch]
[woman caller]
[dispatch]
[woman caller]
[dispatch]
[woman caller]
[dispatch]
[suspect]
[woman caller]
[dispatch]
[woman caller]
[suspect]
[woman caller]
[JV] Officer Farnes diverts from searching for the burglary suspect
and instead, races to the burning house.
[Officer Alex] Instantly, adrenaline started going.
We couldn't get there quick enough, no matter how fast we were going.
It makes your chest feel a little tight.
And then, in progress, call is such a big deal
of wanting to catch the person who did this
while they're still there.
There was just billowing thick black smoke out of the home
in thick cloud.
[woman]
[Officer Alex]
[woman]
[Officer Alex]
We deal with people on their worst days frequently.
It is pretty normal for us to arrive on a scene
and to have people, who are screaming.
Officers are pretty well trained in
listening to this person and evaluating the situation
based on what they're saying and how they're acting.
[JV] Trapped inside the burning house are Clarence,
his wife, Bethany, and her dad, Mike.
So far, unable to locate the suspect,
Officer Farnes doesn't yet know if this is a hostage situation.
I first approached the front door,
felt it for heat, and then, tried the door knob.
If the fire was right behind that door, then that wasn't a door
we were going to want to break down.
We needed to locate another door.
[JV] As Officer Farnes takes the side entrance,
she sees Clarence.
But his wife and father-in-law are still inside.
[Officer Alex] He had been assaulted.
Clearly, something had happened,
but because he was out of the home,
I made the decision to continue down the driveway.
I was focused on making sure that everybody was out of the home.
[woman]
[Officer Alex] You could hear small explosions.
But I was very focused on getting into the house as quickly as I could.
[Office Alex]
And, that was when she told me that there was somebody else in the house.
[suspect]
He would attempt to, like, exit the room and kind of come at me,
and then, he would pull himself back in and shut the door.
[suspect]
[Officer Alex]
He did tell me that he had a knife.
He'd told me that he was going to kill me.
I absolutely believed that he wanted to do harm to me and to that family.
[Officer Alex] It was very stressful.
I was the only one there.
I was the only person attempting to get everybody out of this house
as well as take care of an armed and dangerous person.
I was responding to the call, I could see smoke coming up.
That's kind of when it clicks in that this was a big fire,
and I was like, my first thought is, "Where are the people that are inside?"
And I just need to find where where Officer Farnes is.
[JV] As police backup evacuates locals from the scene...
[officer]
[JV] ...Farnes is the only officer helping Bethany
and her father escape the house,
where they're trapped with the suspect.
[Mike]
[Officer Alex]
[Beth]
[Officer Alex]
Her father seemed confused.
It appeared to me that he maybe, didn't understand this was dangerous.
It was difficult to keep patience
because this house was going to collapse if we did not hurry and get ourselves out.
[Beth]
[Officer Alex]
We didn't know where the fire was...
[Beth]
[Mike]
[Officer Alex] ...or where he was.
[JV] All three victims are now safely out of their burning home.
But they have been violently assaulted by the suspect.
[Officer Cyr] By the time I had arrived,
Officer Farnes was able to give us
a good description of what was going on into the building.
[Officer Alex] I did fear,
kind of for my own life and for my own safety,
knowing that I was going to have to go back in
and confront the suspect after getting the family to safety.
[Officer Shaun]
[Officer Alex]
The next objective becomes trying to locate this guy
and without hurting him or him hurting us, trying to get him out of the house
that's on fire now.
[Officer Alex]
[Officer Shaun]
[Officer Alex]
[JV] Officer Farnes connects the description of the earlier burglary suspect
with the violent arsonist she's just seen in the house.
It's the same man.
[Officer Shaun]
[Officer Alex]
You couldn't see into the garage,
except maybe a couple of feet from the ground up.
The suspect began making noise and yelling,
and so, we started approaching the garage
to attempt to get him to come to us.
[suspect]
It's an instinct that if somebody's yelling for help,
we're going to respond and we're going to help them.
But it was a very tense moment.
Is he asking for help, or is he trying to
bait officers into the home?
[suspect]
[Officer Shaun]
[Officer Alex]
[Officer Shaun]
There was very little visibility.
It was obviously very hot.
Who knows if he has any other weapons.
It's a dangerous situation.
Someone thought it was Adam-someone.
I just started hollering Adam.
[Officer Alex]
So, it was "Adam, get out of there, Adam, come toward us."
Essentially, to establish a rapport to humanize him.
I'm just looking for anything that I can
find to try to communicate with this guy
that he needs to come out and get out of the house quickly.
[Officer Alex]
[suspect screaming]
[Officer Cyr] To me, it looked like he had
been incapacitated.
Okay. This will be quick and easy.
Just put handcuffs on him, get him out of there.
Multiple of us had entered the garage in order to try and get him out.
And that is when he
started fighting with us.
[screaming]
[Officer Farnes] I wasn't sure that he was actually even aware of his actions.
He just, was like, fighting back.
[Officer Shaun] A lot of times after someone's tased,
they don't want to be tased anymore, so they stop what they're doing.
That wasn't the case with him, he wanted a fight.
[Officer Alex] It did feel like we were kind of losing our opportunity
to get him out of the home.
The fire was growing.
It did cross my mind that
the ceiling of this roof is going to come down.
Are we able to get this man out of this home
or do we just get ourselves out?
[Officer Shaun]
[Officer Alex]
He would come out a little bit farther and fight with us,
and then, he would retreat back into the smoke and try to get us to come in after him.
[Officer Shaun]
[Officer Shaun] I started noticing that the smoke was affecting me.
It starts feeling like you only have so much time before
you have to make a decision whether to keep fighting or get out.
[Officer Cyr] It was a definite possibility
that he was not going to get out of the house
while it was still on fire.
[Officer Alex]
[suspect]
[Officer Alex] It is frustrating to know that this person
was coming at me earlier with a weapon and threatening to kill me.
And now, I'm trying to grab him and get him to safety.
[Officer Shaun]
[Officer Cyr]
[suspect]
[Officer Alex] Once he exited the garage and we were able to put him in handcuffs,
I do feel like my mindset kind of shifted,
that I knew that we were done and we were gonna be out of the smoke and out of the fire.
Maybe he realized that there was no getting out of this safely,
apart from coming with us.
[Officer Alex]
[Officer Shaun]
[Officer Alex]
[suspect]
[JV] Police later identify the suspect as Ammon Woodhead.
He has a violent criminal history.
He pleads guilty to two counts of attempted murder
and one count each of aggravated arson, disarming a police officer
and assault against a police officer.
He is sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in state prison.
[suspect]
[Officer Cyr] Ammon was definitely in an altered state of consciousness
exacerbated by drug use.
This is something typical of methamphetamine.
I mean, I was glad that it was finally over and that all of us could start
breathing actual air that didn't have smoke in it.
[Officer Alex] I hadn't realized it at the time the devastation of the home,
and how big of a loss it was, and I had learned
that day that the male homeowner actually built this home.
So, him and his wife and their kids had lived there
their entire lives, and now, it was gone.
[JV] Later that day,
the homeowners give police details of Woodhead's violent attack.
[Officer Shaun] The biggest thing that sticks with me about this incident
is it was a completely pointless and random act by this individual.
These people had their life ruined in a matter of moments because of this guy.
[JV] The homeowners, all make full recoveries.
I do still feel like I get kind of emotional talking about it.
When I was running into the home, where it was a lot to realize that
there was a possibility that I wasn't going
to make it home to my family.
[man]
[JV] Seven officers are later honored for their roles in this rescue and arrest.
Well, it does feel a little bit weird for kind of being given an award for
what I think a lot of officers would consider just doing our jobs.
I'm glad that I was on duty that day, I'm glad that I was there
because that's why I got into law enforcement,
so I could be part of doing something like this on a day like this.
He grabbed the gun and pulled it out of his waist band
There was a feeling that this is going to hit me
and this is going to hurt alot.
[two gun shots] Oh!
[gun shot]
When the excavator started coming at me
it was a mix of between shock, confusion and terror.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
In that moment you don't have time to think.
♪
[Man] Sheriff's office! Come outside!