SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, July 31, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — The person who died in a fiery crash at 500 South and 1100 East Friday afternoon, and a second individual who later died in the hospital have been identified.
The man who died later has been identified by the Salt Lake City Police Department as 77-year-old Jeoffry Dahl.
The driver of the other vehicle was identified Sunday as 34-year-old Fernando Jiminez-Martinez, from West Jordan.
Sunday night, police said the female passenger in the SUV remains in critical condition.
SLCPD Detective Richard Chipping said at approximately 3:15 p.m. a maroon vehicle was traveling westbound on 500 South toward 1300 East when a silver vehicle drove into the back of the first and began pushing it down the road on 500 South.
The maroon vehicle in front was pushed into the pole in the middle of the TRAX lines, causing it to sustain significant damage, turn around and catch on fire.
“There is some debris that’s scattered all the way up to that point and the vehicles appeared to be connected together, I don’t know if that’s to do with speed or anything else,” Chipping said. “An officer was stopped at the light at 1100 East and observed the accident as it was occurring.”
The driver of the maroon vehicle, Jiminez-Martinez, was declared deceased on scene due to the fire. There were no other occupants in that car.
Dahl, the driver of the silver vehicle, died at a hospital. The only passenger in the silver vehicle also was transported to the hospital.
Chipping said drugs and alcohol are not being considered factors in this incident, although a medical issue may have been a contributing factor.
