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AMERICAN FORK – Officials with the Utah Highway Patrol have been looking for a truck hauling gravel in Utah County that apparently struck a Porsche on the interstate before driving off.
Orem resident Chris Haleua is looking on the bright side after escaping serious injury while driving home from work on Thursday in his 2001 Porsche.
He said the vehicle had more sentimental value to him than just being a muscle car.
“(I) got it used, (and have) been working on it with my dad for a few years, and we tried to fix it up,” he said.
Haleua had just gotten on I-15 at 500 East in American Fork to drive home. As he approached the Pleasant Grove exit "the gravel truck decided he needed to get off at the last minute, so that's where the impact happened,” Haleua added.
He said the rear trailer came right into his lane.
“Just seeing a lot of semitruck wheels, I wasn’t sure if I was going to go under it. Thankfully I was able to spin away from it, so I feel fortunate to be standing here,” he said.
Even though the car was totaled, Haleua was able to walk away. He credited this to the snow piled up on the side of the road.
“I love the snow for skiing on; now I love it for really softening the final hit into the wall,” he said.
Investigators with the Utah Highway Patrol said they want to talk with the driver of the semitruck, to get his or her side of the story. For now, the case is being investigated as a hit-and-run.
“There’s no way he could have missed that, and with the way that he changed his mind from turning into my lane and lurching back to his original lane, it’s clear that he noticed something was wrong,” Haleua said.
Haleua hopes if someone saw the crash and got the name of the company the gravel truck belongs to, they’ll report it to the highway patrol.
As he gathered his belongings from what was left of his car in the wrecking yard Friday, he said perhaps the crash will mean a new car project is in his future.
“(I'll) start from the beginning again and try to chalk it up as more opportunity to work on cars with my dad,” said Haleua.
