Driver, horse killed in head-on collision near Eagle Mountain


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EAGLE MOUNTAIN — A head-on collision left one person dead and killed one of two horses travelling in a trailer Sunday morning.

Around 7:30 a.m. officers received a call of a collision near mile marker 30 on state road 73, according to Sgt. Spencer Cannon with the Utah County Sheriff's Office. A car headed eastbound swerved back and forth on the road before hitting a truck travelling in the opposite direction, pulling a horse trailer.

Jimmy Ren Pearson, 42, who was driving the passenger car, died on impact. One of the horses in the trailer was also killed. Court documents show Pearson has a history of drug-related offenses, but it was not clear if he was impaired at the time of the collision.

When the truck driver and passenger, who sustained minor injuries, stepped out of the vehicle after impact, they found the passenger car partially under the truck, in two pieces. The sole occupant of the passenger car was still in the vehicle.


It was a pretty significant impact. It's not often that you see a vehicle of any kind torn completely in two pieces because of the impact of a crash but that's what happened here,

–Sgt. Spencer Cannon


Responders later removed the man’s body from the car.

“It was a pretty significant impact. It’s not often that you see a vehicle of any kind torn completely in two pieces because of the impact of a crash but that’s what happened here,” Cannon said.

With the combined weight of the horses, trailer and truck, it would have been difficult for a smaller car to survive an accident with it, he said.

The driver of the truck and his granddaughter were headed travelling to take their horses out for a ride together. The granddaughter, 16, was taken to a Utah Valley hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to Cannon.

Police suspect the driver of the passenger car may have been impaired, Cannon said, indicated by irregular driving pattern before impact. His body will be examined by the medical examiner to determine whether alcohol or drugs played a role in the accident.

They do not know yet whether the driver of the car was the registered owner of the vehicle.

Police are still investigating the cause of the collision.

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