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SALT LAKE CITY — A West Jordan man with a history of drunk driving and evading police was charged Friday with slamming into another car while again fleeing from officers, killing a popular Salt Lake entrepreneur.
Christian Cody Facer, 39, is charged in 3rd District Court with manslaughter and failing to respond to an officer's signal to stop resulting in death, second-degree felonies; two counts of DUI, a third-degree felony; failing to stop for police, a class A misdemeanor, and other charges.
Facer was fleeing from a North Salt Lake police officer who had been chasing him for about five minutes when he ran a stop sign in a Fairpark residential area at the intersection of 1200 West and 500 North, according to charging documents. Facer's F-250 T-boned the driver's side of a a 2014 Nissan Pathfinder that was passing through.
Thy Hoang Vu, 33 — also known as Thy Vu Mims — a Salt Lake entrepreneur, one of the founders of Mims Bakery, and a community activist, was killed. A passenger in Vu's vehicle was also critically injured. A dog that was inside Mims' vehicle also died in the crash.
Facer's blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.354% — seven times the legal limit in Utah, according to charging documents. Police say Facer's passenger told them the two had been drinking that day since 6 a.m..
The deadly crash started about noon on Oct. 16 when emergency dispatchers started receiving multiple calls of a Ford F-250 with two men driving erratically on U.S. 89 near 2600 South in North Salt Lake, "weaving in and out of traffic" and "running people off the road," according to charging documents. At least one witness told police that the men were passing around and drinking out of a bottle suspected to contain alcohol.
A North Salt Lake police officer spotted the vehicle speeding near 350 North and attempted to pull it over. Facer stopped for a red light at Eagle Ridge Drive and turned on his right blinker on, seemingly indicating he was about to pull over. Instead, when the traffic light turned green, he fled, according to police.
The officer pursued the truck onto I-15 with his overhead lights and siren on. The North Salt Lake Police Department recently released the officer's dashcam video of the pursuit. KSL.com cautions readers that the video contains a violent crash.
In the video, traffic on I-15 is moderate and many vehicles do not pull over for the officer who had his emergency lights and siren on. At one point the officer can be heard saying, "Move!" in frustration to a motorist in front of him. Charing documents allege that Facer was going over 100 mph at times on the freeway.
The officer followed as Facer exited at 1000 North in Salt Lake City and headed west where several cars were driving east but traffic going west appeared to be light. Facer then turned onto 1200 West and headed south through a residential area on the narrow road. In the video, Facer and the officer pass one car going the same direction as the chase.
Facer ran one stop sign and a traffic light prior to running the stop sign where the fatal crash took place, according to the charges. He was driving between 65 mph and 70 mph for much of the time, according to police. The speed limit on 1200 West varies between 25 mph and 30 mph.
A police supervisor who was listening to the chase on police radio — something that happens with all police chases — appears to tell the officer at one point in the video that he may need to terminate the chase, although the audio in the video is mostly drowned out by police sirens. Approximately 20 seconds later, the collision occurred.
"Send medical," the officer tells dispatchers after reporting that a "head-on collision" had just happened.
The impact from the collision propelled the Pathfinder into an unoccupied car parked in a driveway about 3 feet away, according to the charges. The F-250 ended up on its side.
Vu's passenger suffered a traumatic brain injury, spine fractures and multiple broken ribs, according to the charging documents.
In addition to the five other charges, Facer was also charged Friday with reckless driving, not having an interlock device in the car, and aggravated cruelty to animals, class B misdemeanors; having an open alcohol container in a vehicle, a class C misdemeanor; and five traffic infractions including speeding too fast for conditions, failing to yield or stop, and failing to obey a traffic control device.
Facer has a history of impaired driving and fleeing from police, according to court records.
- Most recently, he was charged with DUI in 4th District Court on Sept. 10. In that case, Facer fled from officers while impaired before rolling into both another vehicle and a Saratoga Springs police vehicle, according to a police booking affidavit. When he was arrested, Facer could not keep his balance and declined to perform field sobriety tests, saying he was "dirty" for alcohol, the affidavit states.
- On July 17, he was charged in Millard Justice Court with intoxication and having an open container on the freeway. A warrant for his arrest was issued in that case on Aug. 30.
- On June 18, 2020, Facer was convicted of DUI and failing to stop at the command of police. Charging documents say he also fled from police in that case going at least 100 mph on Redwood Road. Facer swerved into oncoming traffic as police were pursuing him, prompting them to terminate their chase, a police affidavit states. Officers put out an alert and he was later spotted and arrested. He was subsequently convicted and given a suspended prison sentence and ordered to serve six months in jail.
- He was also convicted of intoxication in 2006, 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2016, and convicted of DUI in 2015, according to court records. In the 2015 DUI case, Facer was arrested after Millard County sheriff's deputies found that he had rolled his car and still had open bottles of alcohol inside, charging documents state. He was sentenced to a year in jail.
- Facer was also convicted of aggravated assault in 2010 and initially received a suspended prison sentence. But after violating his probation he was ordered in 2011 to serve up to five years in the Utah State Prison.
Prosecutors have requested that Facer be held in the Salt Lake County Jail without bail pending trial.
