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WELLSVILLE, Cache County — Utah Highway Patrol troopers say it was a terrible tragedy.
An impulsive, rash decision by a 17-year-old girl cost her her life late Wednesday, they said.
Just after 11 p.m., Emily Wright, of Mendon, Cache County, was having a dispute with her father after unwillingly being picked up from a friend's house. She allegedly jumped out of her father's moving vehicle during the argument and was killed.
"She wasn't happy. She basically made a comment that she wanted to go back," said UHP Lt. Lee Perry.
The incident happened on state Route 23 near Willow Valley Middle School. Perry said as Wright and her father were rounding a corner where the speed limit is 45 mph, Emily's father had his eyes on the road when she threatened to return to the friend's house.
"She said, 'I want to go back.' He then heard the door open," Perry said.
Emily's father believes his daughter jumped. She was run over by the car's rear wheel and killed instantly, despite efforts by her father and troopers to administer CPR and other first-aid.
Perry described the father as "heartbroken" and said it was difficult for troopers to question him as part of their investigation knowing the scope of the tragedy.
The road was closed for several hours while the accident was investigated.
