GARDEN CITY, Utah, Oct. 11, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — The driver of a semi that rolled, then slid into a Garden City sports store on Wednesday night has died from his injuries.
Both the truck driver and his passenger were critically injured in the crash, which happened about 6:37 p.m. at the intersection of State Routes 30 and 89 in Rich County, just east of Bear Lake.
The dead man has been identified by Utah Highway Patrol as 31-year-old Ahmed M. Abdelgader of Omaha, Neb. The name of his passenger has not been released.
“The tractor trailer combination rolled while also jackknifing and sliding into a sporting goods business located on the east side of SR-30 in and area known as Raspberry Square,” the Utah Highway Patrol statement says.
“Prior to the crash, witnesses indicated that the semi was driving erratic at a high rate of speed. The semi appeared to be traveling above the speed limit when the driver ran the stop sign and attempted to turn right onto SR-30.”
No one in the store, Pugstones Sporting, was injured.
Both the driver and his male passenger were transported to Logan Regional Hospital by ground ambulance.
The semi was reported as empty, originally, but that was not the case.
“During the crash, the momentum of the load caused the load to break free of the semi’s trailer and continue into the building,” the UHP statement says. “The load, pallets of butter, were found in the building by investigators. The building, housing the aforementioned sporting goods store, was compromised to the point of structural instability.
“Engineering personnel have been called in to sure up the building before the semi can be safely removed.”
