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TAYLORSVILLE, Utah, Dec. 31, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — One man is dead and another critically injured after a violent crash in Taylorsville late Monday night.
The accident happened at about 11 p.m. when a sedan southbound on 2700 West was struck by another sedan that was heading west on 4700 South, Unified Police Detective Ken Hansen said.
The “violent collision” was significant enough to move the southbound vehicle about 150 to 200 feet west of the intersection, he said.
The female driver and only occupant of the westbound car is being processed for impaired driving.
The two male occupants of the southbound vehicle were rushed to Intermountain Medical Center in extremely critical condition. Police say one of the men died a couple of hours later.
“As car crashes go, when you have smaller cars and they crash in the front or side areas, the crash will cause more injuries,” Hansen said.
The intersection is expected to be closed to traffic until 4 or 5 a.m. as the investigation continues, Hansen said, adding that westbound traffic has been allowed to go north on 2700.
The crash analysis reconstruction team (CART) also is on scene, assisting in the investigation.
“It’s a multi-agency team with a lot of experts getting all the information they need to reconstruct the crash (and determine exactly what happened),” Hansen said.
Hansen wasn’t sure if the driver believed to have caused the crash remained at the scene voluntarily, but he said she is currently in custody and it will possibly take a month to get the results of the tests used to determine alcohol/impairment levels.
Regarding possible charges against the driver, he said, “If any of the occupants pass away, it gets pretty significant.”
He added that officials will be checking for video from the surrounding area and any dash cameras from other drivers, in addition to the CART findings, to see if one of the involved vehicles ran a red light.
“Then it’ll go to the District Attorney’s office and they’ll decide what charges will be filed,” he said.
West Valley City Police officers also responded to the scene, but UPD is handling the investigation because the crash occurred on the Taylorsville side of the border between the two cities.
