Estimated read time: 3-4 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
WEST JORDAN — New information is giving insight into how a group of witnesses tried to save a 13-year-old boy who was ultimately killed in a hit-and-run in West Jordan, and how they worked to help police track down the alleged driver.
Tuesday's crash killed Eli Mitchell, a West Jordan Middle School student, who family said was riding his bicycle home from buying treats at a nearby grocery store.
Members of the United States Army West Jordan recruiting station happened to also be heading home from work, as Eli rode his bike across the intersection at 9000 South 1510 W.
The parking lot to their office is right next to the street.
Sgt. 1st Class Randall Allred explained that his supervisor saw a truck run over a teen boy as the driver turned.
"Immediately my supervisor pulled over to the side of the road to assist as much as he could, whether providing CPR mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, to do everything we could for the little boy," Allred said.
Even with all the right medical training to try and save Eli, Allred described how the teen's injuries were too severe to survive.
As that was happening, Allred described how the truck that hit Eli took off.
"One of the other recruiters at my office, he witnessed the event as well and saw the truck turn around with the bicycle still underneath the vehicle, and the driver came into our parking lot and removed the bicycle from under his vehicle," Allred said, recounting what his Army colleagues witnessed.
A witness who wanted to remain private took a photo of the truck with the bicycle underneath. The affidavit of probable cause states that at least two witnesses took pictures of the truck with the bicycle under it, and a video showing the truck driving away.
Allred described how the other Army recruiter kept police updated on the driver after he fled.
"The other individual followed him to try to help out as much as possible, try to get on the phone with police," he said.
The license plate number was visible in the photos, police indicated, and they were able to look the owner up from there.
It's thanks to those witnesses, court documents indicated, that police found Mason Andrews Ohms at his home in Saratoga Springs.
"Mason spontaneously stated, I felt a bump and did not know what it was," the probable cause statement reads.
Detectives say Ohms told his wife, "Something bad happened and she said that Mason said to her I didn't see her."
Ohms was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of automobile homicide and failing to remain at the scene of an accident involving death.
"This is an event that kind of shakes the ground of the foundation of our community, of some person that does a horrific event then has the audacity to run off," Allred said.
Wednesday morning, the same Army recruiters who tried to save Eli's life and stop the driver, came back to the scene and put out balloons, a candle and a note for Eli's family.
"For every one that drives by seeing that location, like this is where it happened — and we all feel for you," Allred said, of their message. "We're all sorry. We offer our condolences."
