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UTAH COUNTY -- A 6-year-old girl has died after a two-car crash in Utah County.
The accident happened at about 1:00 Thursday afternoon on Highway 73 between Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain.
Utah Highway Patrol investigators say a small pickup truck towing a trailer started losing control during a heavy rainstorm and started to cross into the opposite lane of traffic.
A witness told KSL he saw the truck start to hydroplane.
When the truck crossed into the other lane of traffic, it smashed into an SUV coming the opposite direction. The SUV then rolled down a small embankment.
A young girl who was in the SUV and buckled into a car seat, 6-year-old Kya Parker, died at the scene.
Her 4-year-old brother Braylon Parker, who was also in a car seat in the SUV, was taken to Primary Children's Medical Center with head and neck injuries. He is currently in critical condition.
The woman who was driving the SUV and the mother of the two children, 29-year-old Elizabeth Parker, was also taken to a hospital in critical condition.
The driver of the pickup truck, 31-year-old Nathan Schafer of West Jordan, was not injured and was cooperating with investigators on the scene.
Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Al Christianson said, "I'm sure he's very shocked at the whole incident. I haven't talked to him directly, but you can imagine what his feelings are. It certainly wasn't intentional from what we believe, maybe a case of driving too fast for the conditions ... those conditions being heavy rain coming down."
E-mail: acabrero@ksl.com
