SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Oct. 19, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — The Salt Lake City Police Department has released the name of the woman killed when the vehicle she driving was struck by a speeding pickup truck fleeing a North Salt Lake Police vehicle.
The collision happened at just after noon Saturday, Oct. 16, when a North Salt Lake Police officer pursued a suspected drunk driver into the Rose Park neighborhood of Salt Lake City, and collided with a passenger vehicle at the intersection of 1200 West and 500 North.
Driving that passenger vehicle was 33-year-old Thy Hoang Vu, who died at the scene. The other person in her vehicle was injured, as were two people in the fleeing pickup. In addition, a dog was killed in the accident.
“The Officer Involved Critical Incident (OICI) Protocol was initiated,” the Salt Lake City Police statement says. “Because no SLCPD officers or resources were involved in this incident, the Salt Lake County OICI Protocol Team 1 (led by Salt Lake City PD) are handling the investigation along with the Crash Analysis Reconstruction (CAR) Team.
As part of the OICI Protocol, the Salt Lake County Protocol Coordinator was contacted and then notified the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, who had an on-call DA investigator respond.
“Based on the preliminary investigation, Vu was the driver of a vehicle T-boned by the fleeing suspect vehicle,” the SLCPD statement says. “The identity of the passenger in Vu’s vehicle is not being released. As of Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021, that person remains in the hospital in critical condition.”
Investigators believe the dog that died on scene was inside Vu’s vehicle at the time of the crash, the statement says.
“Due to the ongoing investigation, the identity of the suspect driver and the passenger are not being released at this time. Both remain in the hospital in serious condition.”
The Salt Lake City Police Department does not anticipate releasing any additional information about this ongoing investigation because it will be screened by the District Attorney’s Office, the statement says.
A GoFundMe account has been set up with the stated purpose of helping Vu’s husband and their two young sons.
Gephardt Daily will have more information on this case as it develops.
