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SOUTH SALT LAKE — A man who police say had been using drugs before he got behind the wheel of a sport utility vehicle and plowed into another vehicle, killing the driver, was released from a hospital and booked into jail Wednesday.
Kenneth Ross Gray, 24, of West Valley City, was arrested for investigation automobile homicide, two counts of DUI causing serious injury, three counts of failing to respond to an officer's commands, being in a stolen vehicle and multiple counts of failing to remain at the scene of an injury accident.
Late Sunday, Gray and two others had just gotten into a stolen BMW SUV in the parking lot of the Wasatch Inn, 1416 S. State, when a Salt Lake police officer attempted to stop them. Gray, who police say was driving, went around the officer and sped away down State Street, eventually reaching speeds faster than 100 mph, police estimated. Officers did not chase the vehicle.
The SUV ran through three red lights, according to a Salt Lake County Jail report. When the driver went through another red light where State Street goes under I-80, he plowed into a Hyundai driven by Michael Green, 36, of Farmington, according to South Salt Lake police. Green's Hyundai was split in two in the violent collision. Green was killed on impact, the report states, and was thrown from his car.
When the SUV hit the Hyundai, it was travelling between 106 mph and 118 mph, the report states.
The badly mangled SUV continued moving 200 to 300 more feet before coming to a stop.
Gray ran from the vehicle after crashing, but only got two blocks away before he was too injured to go on and called police to tell him where he was, investigators said.
"Kenneth had consumed methamphetamine just prior to operating the vehicle and … was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time he fled in the vehicle," police wrote in a report. "Kenneth knew that officers were attempting to stop him when he fled."
Two men and a woman in the SUV were taken to a local hospital. Isaac Clay Duncan, 21, was released from the hospital Tuesday and returned to the Utah State Prison on a parole violation. The woman was also released from the hospital but was not arrested.
Gray has several drug-related convictions in his criminal history, according to court records.
Green is survived by his wife, Mandi, and their two young children. A GoFundMe webpage* was set up to help with funeral expenses.
