One woman dead, multiple people injured in Layton crash
May 14, 2023, 10:12 PM | Updated: Aug 19, 2023, 8:58 pm
LAYTON, Utah — One woman was killed, and multiple people, including a toddler, were injured after a two-car crash in Layton.
Lt. Travis Lyman, with Layton City police, said the cars basically collided head-on near 2300 W. Gordon Avenue Sunday evening, causing the road to be closed for several hours.
“Looks like the car that was traveling eastbound swerved into the westbound lane,” Lyman said.
He said that five people were riding in the car that was hit. In that car, the passenger who died was, 53-year-old Ruth Carillos. She was riding in the backseat on the driver’s side.
A 15-year-old was behind the wheel along with a 72-year-old front-seat shotgun rider. There were two more passengers in the backseat, ages 15 and 49.
“Some shared the same last name, so I think there was some relation between some of them,” Lyman said.
In the car that supposedly caused the collision, was a 31-year-old driver with a 2-year-old riding in the backseat. Police say she was distracted.
“We don’t know what the distraction was: That’s a statement we heard from her, actually, that she looked away for just a brief moment. I don’t know if that was related to the child in the backseat, cell phone, still trying to sort that out,” Lyman said.
Tom Holt witnessed the accident just a few hundred feet from where the crash happened a lot as a substitute crossing guard.
“This is probably one of the busier intersections,” said Holt.
Working across the city, he said he has seen busier intersections, but he has also seen less trafficked ones.
He said he is always watching out for the kids no matter the crosswalk he is working on because one never knows what kinds of distractions may pop up.
“Sometimes, there’s just the one percent that just flies through here. I mean, orange vest, orange cone, stop sign, and blinking lights,” Holt explained.
Lyman said it’s a tragedy that this fatal crash happened on Mother’s Day.
“People just making their way down where on Mother’s Day Sunday evening, and next thing you know changes people’s lives,” he expressed.
Police are waiting for the toxicology report to come back, and it does not look like speed was an issue or contributing factor to the crash.
