Passenger Killed in Davis County Crash, Driver Arrested
Aug 12, 2018, 7:57 PM | Updated: 7:59 pm
NORTH SALT LAKE, Utah – One man was killed and another was arrested after an overnight crash in Davis County Sunday.
Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Tosh Bennett said 25-year-old Jody Sheppard was driving an SUV north on Legacy Parkway around 4:30 Sunday morning. According to a probable-cause statement, Bennett said Sheppard thought he missed an exit and left his lane.
He said Sheppard then over-corrected and rolled the SUV in the median near milepoint 1. Bennett said a passenger in the backseat, 24-year-old Ryan Tso, was partially ejected and became pinned under the SUV. Tso died at the scene. Bennett said he was not sure if Tso was wearing a seatbelt.
Bennett said he could smell alcohol on Sheppard’s breath and said Sheppard admitted to consuming alcohol before driving. Bennett said a preliminary breath test showed Sheppard had a blood alcohol content of 0.18. Bennett arrested Sheppard for investigation of automobile homicide and DUI.
“Could have saved a life by taking some responsibility and calling for a ride. It’s kind of hard now, especially where we’ve got Uber an Lyft and all these different resources for people to use and they just think that they can do it on their own and be safe and it turns out to be tragic for somebody and their family,” Bennett said.
According to numbers from Utah Highway Patrol, traffic fatalities appear to be down from 2017. The most recent numbers published by UHP showed troopers have investigated 72 traffic deaths as of July 30, compared with 76 over that same time period in 2017.
