A Utah woman allegedly tries to escape a traffic stop by calling 911

KAYSVILLE, Utah – The Utah Highway Patrol says it has arrested a 36-year-old Utah woman after she allegedly tried to escape a traffic stop by calling 9-1-1 and reporting a shooting.

Troopers say in court documents obtained by FOX 13 News that they stopped a vehicle traveling north on Interstate 15 on Tuesday for reportedly going 87 mph in a 70 mph zone. This happened at the rest area in Kaysville.

While police were conducting a records check, emergency dispatchers received a call from a woman saying shots had been fired at a vehicle and they could see a person in the car who was not moving.

The dispatcher reported that the connection remained lost and tracked it to show that the reporting party was not moving and was in front of the Kaysville rest area.

When the officer returned to the vehicle, he noticed the female passenger quickly pushing a phone between her legs. When the officer asked dispatchers who the phone that kept calling belonged to, it was confirmed that it was the driver: Michael Richard Barney.

Barney was asked for the last four digits of his phone number and it was confirmed that the reporter’s phone number and his number were the same.

The vehicle’s passenger, Jessica Ray Druschal, was then interviewed by the Utah Highway Patrol and she told troopers that her boyfriend, Barney, told her to call 9-1-1. Barney denied this to the police.

Druschal is now charged with misuse of emergency reporting.