Woman charged for allegedly trying to hit police officer with car

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A woman is facing several charges after reportedly attempting to hit a police officer with her car in April. After the incident, officers found drug paraphernalia and forged checks in her car.

Shanni Lee Ireland-Decker, 55, is facing 12 charges, including one count of aggravated assault targeting law enforcement with bodily injury, a first-degree felony; eight counts of possession of forged writing or device for writing, all third-degree felonies; and one count of use or possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor. See the full list of charges at the end of this article.

According to court documents, a gas station employee called to report that a person — identified as Ireland-Decker — had been unconscious in their car at a gas pump for over an hour.

When officers arrived at the gas station and one parked in front of Ireland-Decker’s car, the suspect “immediately began to back away from him,” documents said.

The suspect stopped after an officer told her to, after which that officer spoke to Ireland-Decker through the passenger window. While speaking with Ireland-Decker, the officer “noticed tinfoil scraps and a glass pipe,” according to documents. Officers commanded the woman to turn off her car and get out.

However, after being instructed to turn off the car, documents said Ireland-Decker “placed the vehicle in gear and drove toward [the officer] who was approaching the driver’s side door, just missing him as she fled eastbound on 4700 South.”

Troopers with Utah Highway Patrol later reported that they had found the suspect vehicle abandoned near 4200 South Bangerter Highway, and that the car “appeared to have been disabled after striking a raised island.”

Officials searched the abandoned vehicle and found burnt tinfoil, glass bongs, and eight checks in the name of someone else. Detectives confirmed that the checks were fraudulent.

Charging documents for Ireland-Decker were filed on May 14, and the incident happened on or around April 27. According to documents, the full list of charges against her is as follows:

• One count of aggravated assault targeting law enforcement with bodily injury, a first-degree felony
• Eight counts of possession of forged writing or device for writing, all third-degree felonies
• One count of failure to respond to officer’s signal to stop, a third-degree felony
• One count of use or possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor
• One count of accident involving property damage, a class B misdemeanor