MILLCREEK, Utah, April 5, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — A female driver and the Unified Police officer whose patrol car she T-boned Thursday night both ended up in the hospital.
The incident began when the 24-year-old encountered two other UPD officers at St. Mark’s Hospital, at 1200 E. 3900 South, at about 10 p.m.
“She pulled up to the hospital, to the emergency driveway, where she was confronted by two officers because she was revving her engine,” said Sgt. David Moreno, with the Utah Highway Patrol, the agency that will be investigating the incident.
“So two officers from UPD came out and asked her what was going on, and at that moment she told them something: She was willing to die for her cause. And at that point, she took off at a really high rate of speed.”
Moreno said the UPD officers decided not to pursue the woman, and instead put out an attempt-to-locate call on the car.
A third UPD officer in the intersection of 900 East 3900 South was responding to the call when the woman, reportedly driving her car fast and with headlights off, ran into the side of the officer’s patrol car, Moreno said.
“It’s my understanding that he did not see the vehicle coming,” Moreno said.
Officers are investigating whether the woman may have been driving under the influence of drugs, Moreno said, due to medications that were found in her car.
Both the driver and the officer whose car was struck were taken to the hospital to get possible injuries checked out, Moreno said. Neither had injuries that were life threatening.
Besides investigating possible drug use by the female driver, officers will measure distances at the scene of the impact to try and determine the woman’s speed at impact.
