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GUSHER, Uintah County — One person died and at least two others were hospitalized after the driver of a sport utility vehicle lost control and rolled while fleeing from a Bureau of Indian Affairs police officer Sunday, according to the Utah Highway Patrol.
Troopers were called about 6:30 p.m. to assist in the investigation of the crash, which happened when the driver of the SUV tried to turn left from 8700 East onto U.S. 40, UHP Lt. Beau Mason said.
The driver was "traveling too fast, crossed all lanes and went off the north side of (U.S. 40)," Mason said, adding that several of the people in the SUV were ejected when the vehicle rolled down an embankment.
By the time troopers reached the crash, three people in the SUV had been taken to separate hospitals in Roosevelt and Vernal, Mason said. Anyone else in the vehicle was in police custody. Based on conflicting reports, Mason said, troopers believe there were "five or six male occupants" in the vehicle when it crashed.
Marshall P. Jack, 29, of Fort Duchesne, died from his injuries at the hospital. Jack was not the driver of the vehicle, according to law enforcement sources.
The investigation is ongoing, but it is believed that alcohol use may have been a factor, Mason said. "We also have no indication that anyone was wearing a seat belt," he said.
Mason did not know what started the police chase. That was not part of UHP's involvement in the crash investigation.
Bureau of Indian Affairs police are handling the criminal investigation with assistance from the FBI because the crash happened within the boundaries of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation and involved enrolled tribal members.
Bureau of Indian Affairs police in Fort Duchesne referred all questions about the incident to the bureau's regional office in Phoenix. A receptionist at the Phoenix office directed all questions to the bureau's national office in Washington, D.C., which did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday.
