Six Killed, Others Injured In Heber Crash With Dump Truck
Oct 19, 2018, 5:53 PM | Updated: Oct 21, 2018, 7:56 pm
HEBER CITY, Utah – Six people died and several others were hurt after a midday crash on U.S. Highway 40 in Wasatch County. Police suspect the driver who caused the crash was drunk.
Around 11:45 a.m. Friday, a dump truck was westbound on US 40 at about mile marker 10, just a couple miles west of Heber. The driver reportedly veered into the median, and his truck vaulted over the cable barrier into eastbound traffic.
It broadsided a pickup truck with six people inside.
Three of those people were ejected and killed. Three others who remained in the vehicle were also killed. The driver of the dump truck was also hurt.
A Jeep driver, seeing the crash, swerved and rolled that vehicle down an embankment, injuring two people on board with cuts and scrapes.
More than six hours after the crash, troopers were still trying to manage the investigation and the eastbound traffic.
Four killed it a broadside crash on US 40 a couple of miles west of Heber City. @UTHighwayPatrol calls it horrific… suspects the driver of a dump truck for DUI. I’ll tell you why, and what happened @KSL5TV at 5. @kslnewsradio pic.twitter.com/rKrw34FBVW
— Jed Boal (@jedboal) October 19, 2018
Investigators suspected the driver of the dump truck was drunk. Sergeant Lawrence Hopper with the Utah Highway Patrol said they found open containers of alcohol and prescription drugs in the cab of the dump truck.
Detectives were waiting on a search warrant to draw the driver’s blood.
“I think horrific is the best way to put it,” said Sergeant Hopper. “When you have such a large vehicle – the dump truck – going freeway speeds, and then it just crosses over and broadsides another vehicle doing highway speeds the other direction, there’s a little left of that pickup truck.”
In fact, Harper said they weren’t even certain that there wasn’t another person under the wreckage.
Once the UHP completed their investigation, they will turn the evidence over to the Wasatch County prosecutor, who will screen the case for charges.
