WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, April 12, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — Police have identified a man killed when his out-of-control vehicle crashed into a building near the intersection of Parkway Boulevard and Redwood Road Saturday night.
West Valley City Police Department spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku told Gephardt Daily Sunday morning the deceased man is Jesus Torres, 19.
Police were dispatched at about 10:30 p.m. to what was initially reported as an accident with injuries, a group of people fighting, and two fatalities, WVCPD Lt. Justin Wyckoff said.
“Once we arrived, we didn’t find anyone fighting, and we learned there was only one fatality,” Wyckoff said at the scene.
He noted, though, that it is still early in the investigation and the police are hoping to find more people who witnessed the incident.
Wyckoff said two cars were traveling north and south on Redwood Road.
“One car was traveling at a high rate of speed and switching lanes,” he said. “At some point near the intersection of Parkway and Redwood, that car lost control, spun, went through the telephone pole and through the parking lot and into the building.”
The driver, later identified as Torres, was ejected and died.
“Part of the car was into the apartment building, another part was in the parking lot, and the engine was also separated from the car, which I’ve been told was 40 feet away from everything else.”
The crash severed the gas and power lines to a nearby care facility, as well as the gas line to the apartment complex. Wyckoff said the gas was shut off right away and everyone was evacuated.
Rocky Mountain Power and Dominion Energy were called to the scene, and building inspectors were brought in to assess any damage to the structure before residents were allowed back inside.
Wyckoff said the accident reconstruction team would determine the speed of the vehicle that crashed, but he added that witnesses said “they were driving pretty fast” on Redwood, which has a posted speed of 40 mph.
No other injuries were reported, and detectives interviewed the driver of the other car involved.
The area was closed for several hours while the scene was cleared and officials investigated.
West Valley City Police Department is asking anyone who witnessed any part of the crash to call 801-840-4000.
Gephardt Daily will update this developing story as more information is made available.
