Idaho man with DUI history charged in Logan Canyon crash that killed 3

Three people were killed in a car accident in Logan Canyon on Wednesday, after a Kia Rio crossed over into the northbound lanes and hit a Ford Excursion.

Three people were killed in a car accident in Logan Canyon on Wednesday, after a Kia Rio crossed over into the northbound lanes and hit a Ford Excursion. (Noah Giles)


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LOGAN — An Idaho man convicted of DUI twice in Utah has been arrested and accused of having a blood-alcohol content more than four times Utah's legal limit and hitting another vehicle head-on in Logan Canyon Wednesday.

Three people were killed and two others were injured in that collision.

Kylan H. Romrell, 29, of Montpelier, Idaho, was booked into the Cache County Jail and on Friday he was charged in 1st District Court with three counts of negligently operating a vehicle resulting in death, a second-degree felony; negligently operating a vehicle resulting in serious injury, DUI, and being a restricted person in possession of a gun, third-degree felonies; negligently operating a vehicle resulting in injury, a class A misdemeanor; and having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle, a class C misdemeanor.

About 3:20 p.m. Wednesday, a Kia Rio heading south on U.S. 89 in Logan Canyon crossed into oncoming traffic, hitting a Ford Excursion driven by Romrell. Jordan Erickson, 21, and Dakota Mejia, 24, both of Garden City, who were the driver and front seat passenger of the Rio, died at the scene.

Three others in the Kia were taken to area hospitals. Jerika J Erickson, 17, of Garden City, who was in the back seat, died en route to the hospital, according to the Utah Highway Patrol. A toddler taken to another hospital was said to be "stable," while another man was flown by medical helicopter to a local hospital in critical condition.

"Initial indicators show that it is possible the vehicle Kylan was driving was near or on the center line of the roadway and the Kia Rio possibly drifted into the Ford Excursion. However, this crash is still being looked at and fault has not been determined," a police booking affidavit states. "Kylan stated to me that he was the only occupant of his vehicle and that he was driving up the canyon, looked up, and his airbag went off."

UHP troopers described Romrell as "upset and at times would be extremely frustrated and kick or throw his hat down. At one point, Kylan began to yell and shout and walk away from the scene. At that point, I took Kylan into custody," the arresting trooper wrote in the affidavit.

Inside Romrell's vehicle, troopers found "multiple open containers" and "many beer cans unopened and one at least that was open and smashed and multiple bottles which were open," according to the affidavit. A rifle was also found in the vehicle.

Troopers observed several indicators that Romrell was intoxicated, and also noted that "as we walked into the sheriff substation, Kylan was unsteady, wobbly and lethargic." After failing some field sobriety tests, a breath test was conducted, which registered Romrell's blood-alcohol content at 0.216%, the affidavit states. The legal limit in Utah is .05%.

Police say Romrell has been arrested for investigation of DUI multiple times over the past 10 years.

According to Utah court records, he was convicted of DUI in 2019. In that case, he was pulled over in Garden City and police found "an open beer can at his feet" and discovered he was "an alcohol restricted driver and found him to be an ignition interlock restricted driver. The vehicle did not have an ignition interlock device installed," a police booking affidavit states. He was sentenced to 62 days in the Rich County Jail and placed on three years of probation.

He also pleaded guilty to DUI in 2017 in Rich County, court records state.

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Pat Reavy is a longtime police and courts reporter. He joined the KSL.com team in 2021, after many years of reporting at the Deseret News and KSL NewsRadio before that.

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