Drunken driver causes head-on crash injuring 2, police say

Whiskey with car keys and handcuffs. Concept for drinking and driving. Law


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NORTH SALT LAKE — Police arrested a man who they say caused two cars to hit each other head-on while driving impaired.

Omar Nicholas Budge, 31, was booked into the Davis County Jail for investigation of two counts of failing to remain at the scene of an accident involving serious injury, and DUI causing injury.

About 6 p.m. Monday, Budge hit another vehicle on U.S. 89 at 100 South, according to a police affidavit. The impact from that collision sent the second vehicle into oncoming traffic where it hit a third vehicle head-on.

The driver of one vehicle, a teenager, went in and out of consciousness at the scene and was taken to Primary Children's Hospital in serious condition, police said. The other driver was also taken to a local hospital to be treated for multiple broken bones.

Budge continued driving and was spotted by other motorists "driving reckless" on I-15 "and almost crashing into other vehicles and the concrete barrier," the affidavit states.

His abandoned vehicle was later found in a store parking lot in Layton. Witnesses called police saying he was acting "erratic," according to the affidavit.

When interviewed by police, Budge said he had been drinking whiskey with friends, and officers noted his speech was slow and slurred, the affidavit states.

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Pat Reavy, KSLPat Reavy
Pat Reavy interned with KSL in 1989 and has been a full-time journalist for either KSL or Deseret News since 1991. For the past 25 years, he has worked primarily the cops and courts beat.

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