Woman charged with negligent homicide, careless driving in death of 9-year-old boy

SALT LAKE CITY — A woman is facing criminal charges in relation to a crash that killed one 9-year-old boy and critically injured another earlier this year.

Shantil Woods Garn was charged in 3rd District Court on Oct. 5 with four crimes in connection with the crash, including negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor; careless driving, a class C misdemeanor; and infractions for failure to operate within a single lane and speeding according to KSL.com.

The boys were hit around noon on July 6 near 11400 South and 2200 West in South Jordan. One boy was killed, and the other was hospitalized.

Prosecutors say Garn was traveling eastbound on 11400 South in a black Yukon GMC when she hit the boys, who were riding an electric scooter on the shoulder of the road. The boys were dragged underneath the vehicle for 60 yards and then thrown into the curb on the right side of the road, according to charging documents.

A witness told investigators he saw the GMC hit something on the side of the roadway. He said he saw a shoe fly into the air and saw one of the boys go underneath the vehicle.

Garn had just made a right turn onto 11400 South, according to prosecutors, and had been eating yogurt before turning. The charging documents say Garn told prosecutors she was not on her phone at the time of the incident but had handed it to her son to send a message because she was late for an appointment. She said she didn’t remember if she had held it so that she could unlock it using facial recognition.

Garn was traveling 50 mph in a 40 mph zone, according to the charges, and skid marks confirmed that the collision occurred outside the lane of travel and on the shoulder of the road.

Garn was charged in 3rd District Court on Oct. 5 with four crimes: negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor; careless driving, a class C misdemeanor; and infractions for failure to operate within a single lane and speeding.

She is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 7.