Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Gene Kennedy reportingA severe wreck on Interstate 15 killed two people this morning.
Lt. Shawn Judd, Utah Highway Patrol: "Very young people and just a terrible, unfortunate event for their families."
The crash happened on I-15 at 800 North in the left lane. Two people died when a car crossed from one side of I-15 into oncoming traffic resulting in a head-on collision. So far, there is no clear answer as to what went wrong.
Two young lives cut short during rush hour. The highway patrol says an 18-year-old male driving northbound in the red car crossed the median and hit a white car in the southbound lanes. In that vehicle was a 25-year-old man behind the wheel. Both drivers were killed instantly.
Lt. Shawn Judd, Utah Highway Patrol: "Some of the witnesses don't give a clear indication as to why the red car crossed over. But just a very high speed freeway speed crash. (reporter question: ‘Did they say it drifted as well?' ) "It was kind of a slow drifting."
The violent crash closed the southbound lanes for about two hours. Northbound slowed to a crawl as passersby looked at the mangled metal.
There have been a lot of accidents this week. A car was dragged under a semi along the 215 freeway on Wednesday. Also, the doctor who mysteriously crashed into a metal building on SR 201, then darted into traffic. A semi ran him over, killing him. And finally, not as severe but definitely numerous, more than 200 accidents in four counties during Thursday's blizzard.
Now, Friday's double fatal accident.
Lt. Shawn Judd, Utah Highway Patrol: "I would just ask that everybody that drives would understand that these two individuals that started on their destination this morning, this was furthest thing from their minds."
The Department of Public Safety has released the names of this morning's victims: 18-year-old Adam C. Hare from West Jordan and 25-year-old Paul R. Perkins from Layton.
The highway patrol does not suspect drugs or alcohol at this time.
Hopefully this crash and the others this week can be a wake-up call for all drivers to be safe out there.
