DAVIS COUNTY, Utah, May 2, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — A 35-year-old Salt Lake City woman was flown by helicopter to the hospital Tuesday night after crashing her vehicle at high speed on Legacy Parkway.
The incident occurred at about 8:30 p.m.
Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Rick Shrader told Gephardt Daily the woman was driving at about 100 mph northbound on Legacy when an off-duty Unified Police Department officer spotted her.
The off-duty officer stopped her and smelled alcohol, Shrader said, so he called for a UHP trooper.
In the meantime, a deputy stopped and both he and the officer suspected the woman was intoxicated.
“They wanted to get her out, thinking she might run,” Shrader said, “and she did.”
There was a quick pursuit, but it was terminated “because of her recklessness.”
“She’s up around 100 mph, and she drifts over on the right-hand side just prior to milepost 10,” Shrader said.
The woman over-corrected into the median, then came back to the right.
“Then she goes through about 30 of these wooden posts and punches through the guardrail and rolls several times,” Shrader said.
He said the woman has two prior convictions for driving under the influence, and, “She told the deputy she had been drinking at her place in Salt Lake City.”
The woman was LifeFlighted to the hospital with a serious cut to her head, and that injury was the main concern of medical personnel.
She wasn’t ejected from the vehicle, so it’s likely that she was wearing her seat belt, which was very fortunate for her, Shrader said, adding that her injuries would have been even worse if she had been ejected at such a high speed.
He said investigators will do measurements and diagrams to ascertain how fast she actually was going.
The woman will likely face charges for DUI, fleeing, and the crash itself.
