SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah, Aug. 8, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Family members have identified the victim of Saturday morning’s deadly wrong-way crash as 26-year-old Angelica Dhondup, a young woman who married her high school sweet heart just hours before a suspected drunk driver took her life.
According to court documents filed by a Utah Highway Patrol officer, at about 1:10 a.m. Saturday morning, a pickup truck south in the northbound side of interstate slammed head-on into a Toyota Corolla at around 2200 south in South Salt Lake.
Seventeen minutes later, Dhondup, identified by family through a GoFundMe page, was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Friday, August 6, 2021 was supposed to be one of the happiest days for my cousin Angelica”, wrote Gina Lucero. “It was the most beautiful night filled with family and laughter.”
Lucero goes on to write that the new bride was being taken home after the reception when the deadly crash happened.
“She hadn’t even been married a full 24 hours and is leaving behind a widowed husband, two young, handsome sons and a daughter she was a week away from adopting.”
UHP told Gephardt Daily that a second woman was in the car with Dhondup, and rushed to the hospital with serious injuries.
Court documents show the man accused of crashing into them, identified as 36-year-old Manaure Gonzalez-Rea, stole a truck belonging to a witness who stopped to help.
Documents show officers kept track of the fleeing driver on camera and were able to stop and arrest him in the area of the I-80 Redwood Road off-ramp intersection.
The arresting officer wrote in the filing that Gonzalez-Rae tested positive for alcohol in a preliminary breath test, and that based on his training, the man was too impaired to be driving safely.
Gonzales-Rae was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail where he is being held without bond on the following charges:
- Automobile homicide criminal negligence DUI of alcohol/drugs, a second-degree felony
- Theft, a second-degree felony
- Failure to remain at accident involving death, a third-degree felony
- Driving under influence of alcohol and/or drugs, a class A misdemeanor
- Reckless driving, a class B misdemeanor
