WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, April 11, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Crews responding to the report of a burning truck in West Valley City discovered a body inside the vehicle.
West Valley City police believe the male driver may have crashed as the result of a medical issue. The truck was found in the area of 6400 West and 2550 South. The fire department put it out.
Lt. Steve Burke, West Valley City Police, said a call came from a passerby reporting the truck at about 3:40 p.m. Wednesday.
“They found a male on site, deceased,” Burke said. “We don’t have a 100 percent identification, but the person we think it possibly could be had a lot of medical problems.”
Investigators believe the man may have suffered a medical emergency before he ran his truck into a metal barrier.
“From what people tell us, the tires were running for an amount of time, which is going to build up heat parked over weeds, which is going to spark the weeds on fire.”
That is believed to be what burned the white, 1990s-era pickup, Burke said. There was nothing found to indicate drugs, foul play or suicide, he said.
Because of burns, the body could not be matched to an ID, Burke said, so an autopsy will be conducted to confirm identity and cause of death.
The fire department is doing an investigation to get a clearer picture of what happened, Burke said.
