Salt Lake woman visited 3 bars before causing fatal wrong-way crash, charges say

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NORTH SALT LAKE — A woman is facing criminal charges after police say she visited three bars and had a blood-alcohol content three times the legal limit before driving the wrong way on I-15 and causing a fatal head-on crash.

Kaylynn Erin Ramos, 27, of Salt Lake City, was charged Thursday in 3rd District Court with manslaughter and negligently operating a vehicle resulting in death, second-degree felonies; reckless driving, a class B misdemeanor; and failing to operate a vehicle on the right side of the road, an infraction.

Just before 2 a.m. on Feb. 1, Ramos entered I-15 heading south in the northbound lanes off of U.S. 89, according to charging documents. She was traveling the wrong way for only two minutes before she just missed hitting one vehicle, police say, and then hit a Hyundai Sonata driven by 40-year-old Joseph Cannon, of Bountiful, near the Salt Lake County-Davis County border. Investigators estimate Ramos was going 60 mph when she hit Cannon head-on.

"Investigators confirmed that the 'Wrong Way/Do Not Enter' signs were visible at that time of night, and that there were approximately four signs that Ramos passed while entering the freeway," according to the charges.

Ramos told investigators that she had been working until about 9:30 p.m. or 10 p.m. and then got a drink with a friend after work. But detectives said they learned that Ramos had been to "three different bars throughout the Salt Lake Valley" that night and left the last bar at 1:17 a.m. Her blood-alcohol content at the time of the crash was 0.16%, the charges state.

"It has been shown that (Ramos) had been drinking heavily that night and had visited three different bars/pubs within Salt Lake County. (She) still chose to get into her vehicle to head home with disregard for the safety of others on the road," the charges allege.

Investigators say Cannon "had slowed down when he saw her lights" but was still hit.

A warrant was issued Thursday for Ramos' arrest and for her to be held in the Salt Lake County Jail without bail pending trial.

In April, Cannon's widow, who represents the Joseph Cannon estate, filed a civil lawsuit against Ramos as well as the three bars that Ramos went to that night and the vendors who supply the bars with alcohol. In the lawsuit, Marie Cannon contends that the bars served Ramos "although it was apparent, or should have been, that Ramos was under the influence of intoxicating alcoholic products."