WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, May 26, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Police have identified the man hit and killed by a 15-year-old driver of a stolen car Thursday night.
Adrian Hernandez-Rodriguez, 24, was standing outside in a neighborhood near 3100 South and Beaver Street where the non-licensed teenage driver lost control of the speeding vehicle, failed to negotiate a curve in the road and hit the man, West Valley City police said.
The incident began about 7 p.m., when police spotted the stolen car at 3100 South and followed it into a neighborhood, police said.
Before he was taken into custody, the teen driver crashed into two police cars, three houses and a gas meter, which resulted in a significant gas leak and forced the evacuation of nearby homes, police said.
“This person made a bad decision and this person killed someone,” West Valley City police spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku said Thursday night.
Vainuku said police didn’t pursue the stolen vehicle in the neighborhood, but an officer in an unmarked police car followed from a distance.
The vehicle later stopped and the 15-year-old male driver and two passengers, a 17-year-old male and 16-year-old female, got out, police said. As police approached, the driver got back into the vehicle and drove away, police said.
Officers used spike strips to block the teenage driver’s path, but he instead crashed through several yards, hitting police cars, homes and Hernandez-Rodriquez before surrendering to police.
The 15-year-old driver sustained minor injures in the crash and was taken to an area hospital, according to police. He was booked Friday into juvenile detention on potential charges of:
- Failure to stop at the command of an officer causing injury, a second-degree felony
- Possession of a stolen vehicle, a second-degree felony
- Aggravated assault, a second-degree felony
- Hit and run, a class B midemeanor
- Driving without a license and failure to maintain control of a vehicle
Police say the vehicle was stolen in Salt Lake City.
