SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Feb. 13, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — A Utah Highway Patrol trooper was seriously injured Tuesday morning in a fall from an Interstate 80 highway bridge to the roadway far below.
Troopers were assisting Salt Lake City police in their effort to locate an SUV driver that fled an attempted traffic at about 10 a.m. The trooper injured was attempting to place a spike strip when he took the major fall.
A Department of Public Safety helicopter helped to locate the SUV, then returned to the area of the trooper’s fall, near 1300 South and 7200 West, to transport the officer to an area hospital for treatment.
A Salt Lake City Police officer’s vehicle was also hit during the incident, but that officer was not seriously injured, Sgt. Mark Wian, SLCPD, told reporters at the scene.
Sgt. Cameron Roden, Utah Highway Patrol, said at about noon that investigators remained on the scene, trying to determine what caused the trooper to plunge from the structure. Those details will not be released until the investigation is further on, Roden said. He classified the trooper’s condition as “serious.”
Wian confirmed the fleeing SUV driver was taken into custody, but did not say what the driver was wanted for, or share detail the exact sequence of events prior to the arrest this morning.
Gephardt Daily will have more information as details are released.
