A state prison inmate is facing a fresh stack of felony charges after prosecutors say a routine June transport run turned into a violent escape attempt that left an Adult Probation & Parole agent injured. Court documents allege 43-year-old Sergio Ramirez Lopez slipped his handcuffed hands to the front of his body, smashed out the back window of a patrol vehicle, and sent shards of glass into the officer’s face during a June 25, 2025, transfer to the Salt Lake County jail. Prosecutors say the AP&P agent was taken to a hospital with a cut to his right cornea, and the patrol vehicle racked up several thousand dollars in damage. Ramirez Lopez remains locked up at the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison.
What prosecutors allege
According to court filings, Ramirez Lopez is accused of using the transport vehicle’s light bar to break the rear window, showering an AP&P agent with glass and causing the eye injury described in the charging documents. Prosecutors have charged him with attempted aggravated escape, aggravated assault targeting a law enforcement officer with injury, and criminal mischief for property damage valued between $1,500 and $5,000; the repair bill for the patrol vehicle is listed at $3,831 in the complaint. Those allegations are laid out in filings described by ABC4.
Where he was held and how transfers work
Court records and state corrections data state that Ramirez Lopez was serving a prison sentence at the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison when AP&P agents were moving him to the Salt Lake County jail in South Salt Lake. The Central Utah Correctional Facility is one of Utah’s two state prisons and houses roughly 1,800 men; the Utah Department of Corrections lists the facility and its contact information on its website. Adult Probation & Parole routinely shuttles inmates between county jails and state prisons for court appearances or housing changes as part of the state’s Inmate Placement Program.
Defendant background
Court filings indicate Ramirez Lopez is 43 and was sentenced to prison in 2020. The new felony complaints were filed after investigators wrapped up their review of the June transport incident, according to reporting. As with all criminal cases, these are allegations at this stage, and Ramirez Lopez is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in court; that standard language appears in the charging paperwork and was also noted by ABC4.
Legal implications…