Law&Crime Sidebar Brazen Mail Truck Thief Takes Police on Wild Chase
Dec 24, 2025
A bizarre tale unfolds in Utah as a man, high on bath salts, carjacks a mail truck, claiming he's being chased over a jar of diamonds. The wild chase spans multiple jurisdictions and culminates in a tense standoff with police using non-lethal tactics like tasers and pepper balls. Witness accounts reveal the panic of the mail carrier during the theft and a knife brandished by the thief. In a surprising twist, federal charges lead to a plea deal resulting in a much shorter sentence than expected.
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Mail Truck Carjacking During a Panic
- Wilbur Hernandez allegedly ran from witnesses and jumped into a U.S. Postal Service mail truck to flee a crowd while holding a knife.
- The mail carrier tried to stop him as Hernandez searched for the keys and fled the scene with mail inside the vehicle.
GPS Tracks The Stolen Truck
- Hernandez admitted he was driving the mail truck and threw people's mail out along the way.
- GPS in the USPS truck allowed authorities to locate and pursue him across jurisdictions.
Multi-Agency Standoff With Nonlethal Force
- The chase ended in Bountiful where Hernandez crashed into a cruiser, got boxed in, and initially refused to exit the vehicle.
- Officers used repeated commands in English and Spanish and considered non-lethal options like pepper balls to get him out.