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KSL team coverage We hear all the time about how important it is to secure anything you're hauling in the back of your truck. Unfortunately, one truck driver didn't listen, and his mistake caused several accidents on I-15 this morning in Davis County.
Police say they know who the driver is. Witnesses say he was driving for Hugo Trucking in West Bountiful, though the company is denying it.
The Highway Patrol says that driver will be charged for not securing the load he had in his truck. Other drivers who got into accidents say they're probably going to sue.
Of all the crazy things Justin Youse has seen commuting on I-15 from Syracuse, nothing was quite like what he saw this morning. He says, "Rocks started flying, hitting the window. It was awfully loud, sounded almost like gunshots."
He slowed down and tried swerving to avoid all the rocks on the road. The problem is he wasn't alone. "Then you had other cars around you swerving in and out of lanes, and you're trying to do the same thing, all trying not to hit another car," he said.
It turns out those rocks were chunks of asphalt, all coming from a truck whose driver didn't make sure the load was secured.
Cameron Roden, with the Utah Highway Patrol, said, "It was evidently some pretty good chunks that it did some pretty good damage to some of the vehicles."
The UHP says witnesses told them the truck belonged to Hugo Trucking out of West Bountiful, though the company denies it. The driver of that truck never stopped, leaving behind a trail of damage.
The debris dented rims, gave drivers flat tires, damaged oil pans, and shattered windows. "There was one older gentleman who looked a little shaken up. He had two flat tires, had no cell phone, no way to call anybody, so I got him taken care of. There were a lot of cars there," said Mark Feit, whose car was damaged.
Feit is still angry about. "Hit the window in the lower section just above the door frame. It just shattered." He says it cost him $160 to repair.
Youse is just happy his windshield cracked instead of shattering when asphalt hit it. "Got cracks here that are deep enough to feel inside the window," he says.
In all, nearly 24 vehicles were damaged near Glovers Lane in Centerville, but no one got hurt.
"In the past, we have had some accidents due to some debris that have caused some pretty severe injuries," Roden said.
So what happens now? UHP investigators will continue talking to Hugo Trucking to get as much information as possible and decide who gets charged and fined.
Owners of damaged cars are talking to their insurance agents, but for anything that's not covered, they say they'll go after whoever the UHP determines is at fault.
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