CEDAR CITY — Traffic is stalled. Law enforcement in Cedar City is working to take a man, recently identified as Avetik Gyandzhyan, into custody. He has fled a traffic stop in Washington County in a stolen vehicle.

Cars are halted on Interstate 15 through Cedar City. People exit their vehicles and walk along the freeway. Others in town seek a better vantage point, and some venture too close to the incident and are turned away by officers.

This was the scene earlier this year as law enforcement appeared to have closed portions of Sage Drive and 600 South, preventing lookie-loos and unknowing drivers from getting too close to the scene. According to the Utah Department of Transportation, north and southbound lanes on I-15 were closed, starting at mile marker 57, for over two hours.

Sgt. Bambi Baie told Cedar City News the Utah Highway Patrol received a call from a law enforcement agency in Washington County shortly before noon stating a man had fled an attempted traffic stop in a stolen vehicle and they’d lost sight of him.

“So we went out and started looking for the vehicle on the south side of Iron County before it even got here,” she said. “We were shutting down offramps, had the helicopter headed, getting everything set up in place to see if we can stop the vehicle and do it safely.”

The Cedar City Fifth District Court has since released the indictment, identifying the man as 53-year-old Avetik Ayo Gyandzhyan. The probable cause statement isn’t available as of this report.

UHP Capt. Randy Riches spotted the vehicle south of Toquerville, and Baie and Iron County sheriff’s deputy set up spikes at mile marker 54. The man’s vehicle hit the spikes, but he continued to flee until Gyandzhyan was forced to stop near Exit 59 due to damage to the vehicle, Baie said.

Multiple police vehicles were observed at the scene, and Baie said a sniper had been positioned nearby.

“Subject was noncompliant, so we called out (the Iron County Metro SWAT team) and had medical personnel in the area just to make sure that we had everything covered — make sure everybody was safe,” she said. “And SWAT ended up having to take him into custody.”

Gyandzhyan was transported to the hospital via a Gold Cross ambulance to be medically cleared but did not appear to have any serious injuries, Baie said. Responders also reportedly left the scene unharmed.

According to charging documents filed in the Fifth District Court, Gyandzhyan was charged with a second-degree felony charge of receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle, a third-degree felony charge of failing to respond to an officer’s signal to stop and a Class B misdemeanor charge of interfering with an arresting officer.

On Dec. 19, the court found that Gyandzhyan has a mental illness and lacks the capacity to “comprehend and appreciate the charges or allegations against him” or the potential penalties he would face if convicted, according to an order issued by Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen.

Gyandzhyan will be in the custody of the Executive Director of Utah’s Department of Human Services or his designee and treated so he can stand trial.

This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.

Updated Oct. 17, 1:42 p.m. to include the identity of the suspect and charges filed with the court.

Updated Dec. 21, 2:43 p.m. to include information obtained in a court order.

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