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LEHI — Police say an unlicensed driver suspected of using drugs while driving a tractor trailer that had numerous safety violations was arrested Thursday after hitting one car and side-swiping a second.
The incident could very well have ended with a fatality, according to Lehi police.
Jeremy Ray Vaughn, 45, of Salt Lake City, was booked at the Utah County Jail for investigation of 70 crimes, including DUI and causing injury, not having a commercial driver's license and numerous safety violations for the big rig he was driving, including defective brakes, according to a police booking affidavit.
On Thursday, Vaughn was driving an 18-wheel semitrailer when he exited I-15 near Thanksgiving Point. He got to the bottom of the off-ramp at the intersection of Club House Drive and Thanksgiving Way but did not stop, slow down or turn, according to police. The truck went through the intersection and hit another car.
The woman driving that car was taken to a local hospital with injuries not considered to be life-threatening, according to Lehi police.
The truck then continued for another quarter-mile onto the on-ramp and side-swiped a second vehicle before jumping the curb and coming to a stop in the rocks on the shoulder of the road, the arrest report states.
When police came up to Vaughn, his "pupils were pinpoint and Jeremy appeared to be confused. When medical arrived, they also were questioning Jeremy on why his pupils were constricted and why he was so confused. Jeremy also thought he was in Salt Lake City and had no idea he was in Lehi," according to the affidavit.
Vaughn later admitted to smoking methamphetamine, the affidavit states.
An inspection of the truck was then conducted and investigators found "the semitruck Jeremy was driving had no insurance, the trailer was unregistered, and Jeremy didn't have a commercial driver's license. Jeremy had a Utah driver's license but it was suspended," the affidavit states.
Lehi police did not immediately release which carrier Vaughn was driving for. Additional information is expected to be released Friday afternoon.
