HEYBURN — A 39-year-old Wyoming man is facing numerous criminal charges after police said he went on a rampage after crashing his vehicle on Interstate 84.
At about 6:30 a.m. July 23, an Idaho State Police trooper was dispatched to a reported hit-and-run collision near milepost 204 on I-84 in Minidoka County, the ISP said in a statement. The trooper was advised that a 2006 Toyota Sequoia collided with a 2008 Ford F-350 pickup.
Patrick Karongo Kaberi is charged with two felony counts of grand theft, two counts of aggravated battery with the use of a deadly weapon, assault and battery upon certain personnel, attempted robbery, arson II, two counts of malicious injury to property and misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and failure to stop.
Kaberi, 39, of Kemmerer, Wyoming, pleaded not guilty to the charges on Monday.
After crashing the Toyota into the Ford pickup, Kaberi ran from the scene but returned and attempted to steal the pickup from the driver, who refused to turn over the keys, the police statement said. Kaberi then doused the pickup with gasoline and set it on fire.
When a passerby driving a GMC Sierra stopped to help extinguish the flames, Kaberi stole the Sierra, struck the driver and knocked him to the ground before fleeing.
Once he exited the interstate, Kaberi then intentionally rammed a pursuing Heyburn police car driven by Officer Cole Kuta, court documents say. Both men exited the vehicles and Kuta fired his stun gun at the man but it was ineffective. Kaberi then took off with the police car and attempted to run over Kuta.
Kuta fired multiple shots into the police car, striking Kaberi as he drove away.
About a mile away, the police car, disabled from the collision, came to a stop. Kaberi then disappeared into a cornfield, the ISP statement said. A police K-9 located the wounded man, who was taken into custody.
Kaberi’s injuries were non-life-threatening and he remains in jail. No medical update is available.
No injuries were reported by Kuta, an 8-year veteran. He is on administrative leave per Heyburn city policy, the ISP said.
The driver of the GMC Sierra, a 42-year-old Ammon man, was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. The driver of the burned Ford F-350 involved in the original collision, a 43-year-old male from Twin Falls, was not injured during the incident.
A preliminary hearing in the case is set a 1:30 p.m. July 27 in Minidoka County Magistrate Court.