4 teens struck by car in Utah County; 1 critical


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

UTAH COUNTY — Four teens were hurt — two critically — after being struck by a car as they walked along a rural highway north of Payson Saturday night.

One of the teens — a 13-year-old girl — was expected to be taken off life support sometime Sunday, according to Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Richard Christianson.

The teens were walking on the shoulder of SR-147 in the area of 5600 West and 9200 South just before 9:30 p.m. when they were hit by a Honda Civic driven by a 17-year-old girl, according to Christianson.

"There's no sidewalk," said Christianson. "It's just a state highway with very little shoulder and ditches on either side."


It's just a terrible tragedy and I really feel for the families involved in this.

–Lt. Richard Christianson, Utah Highway Patrol


All four teens were taken to Mountain View Hospital in Payson.

Two girls — 13-year-old Shanece Reynolds and 15-year-old Hailey Burr — suffered minor leg injuries and were treated and released. Jared Fillmore, 13, was flown to Primary Children's Medical Center with multiple broken bones and head trauma. As of Sunday, his condition was stable, according to Christianson.

Courtney Osborn, 13, was also flown to Primary Children's in extremely critical condition, troopers said. Doctors determined she no longer had brain activity Sunday, and were expecting to take her off life support.

"It's just a terrible tragedy and I really feel for the families involved in this," Christianson said.

The area where the crash took place is very rural and there are no lights along the road, troopers said.

Neighbors in the farming community said that when the sun goes down, it's pitch black.

"You don't have any city lights, no streetlights, you don't have anything," said Dale Jensen. "When it's dark out here, it's really dark."

The driver wasn't hurt and was cooperative with investigators. Troopers don't suspect speeding or impairment as factors in the crash.

"Nothing appears to be out of the ordinary but we are checking cell-phone records to see if texting is involved, that sort of thing," said Christianson. "It's just a very, very dark area and with speeds that high, you're almost outrunning your headlights."

The teens were headed to a birthday party at the time of the accident, but troopers said there's no evidence alcohol was involved. The Utah County Attorney's Office will determine if any charges will be filed.

Contributing: Sandra Yi

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Jessica Ivins

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast