Police explain why it took so long to arrest suspect in several intentional hit-and-runs

SALT LAKE CITY — The suspect accused of several intentional hit-and-runs had his second court hearing Friday.

Police accuse Anh Duy Pham, 26, of attempting to commit four hit-and-runs in Salt Lake City over the last several months. They believe his first attack was seven months ago. So why did it take them so long to charge Pham?

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said when the hit-and-runs first happened, police likely assumed they were accidents.

“Accidents happen. People don’t think about them as intentional conduct,” he said. “People panic and leave accidents. And, there’s not this, kind of, culpability as (there is with) attempted murder.”

Brent Weisberg with the Salt Lake City Police Department said it isn’t fair to say that SLCPD took too long to arrest Pham.

“The day this first happened, even though we had the description of the car and that license plate, our officers sent out a county-wide attempt to locate for this vehicle,” he said in an interview with KSL TV. “So, that attempt to locate went out to every single law enforcement agency in Salt Lake County.”

Police arrested Pham on March 13. He is now facing 10 felony charges. Six of those charges are first-degree felony attempted murder charges.

Devin Oldroyd contributed to this story.

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