EMERY COUNTY, Utah, Aug. 5, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — The driver and passenger killed in an Aug. 1 crash on Interstate 70 have been identified.
They were driver Matthew Koehler, 26, from Las Vegas, and passenger Jasmine Green, 34, from Henderson, Nevada.
A Utah Highway Patrol trooper was conducting speed enforcement on Interstate 70 at about 5:11 p.m. that day when a white BMW SUV passed him at 128 mph, the UHP statement says.
“Trooper Withers pulled out of the median and attempted to catch up to the vehicle. He was unable to close the widening gap and radioed ahead to an Emery County Deputy,” the statement says.
“The BMW passed the deputy, who activated his lights as he passed. The BMW did not decrease speed from the initial observation. Near milepost 160, the BMW attempted to pass two vehicles occupying lanes 1 and 2. When it did so, it left the roadway to the left, went through the median, and onto lane 1 of westbound I-70.”
The BMW “then overcorrected right, went back through the median, began to roll, and jumped onto eastbound I-70, where it struck a commercial vehicle pulling a flatbed full of drywall materials. It then rolled back onto the roadway and came to rest, blocking both lanes.”
The male, female “and their dog were ejected and killed in the incident,” the statement says. “Seatbelts do not appear to have been used.”
The incident remains under investigation.
