Estimated read time: 1-2 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
ST. GEORGE — A St. George man who police say had a blood-alcohol level that was six times the legal limit is facing several charges accusing him of hitting a minivan with an elderly woman and a man in a wheelchair inside.
Daniel Thomas Speedy, 23, was charged Tuesday in 5th District Court with two counts of negligently operating a vehicle resulting in injury, a class A misdemeanor; plus DUI and reckless driving, class B misdemeanors.
About 2 p.m. Monday, St. George police responded to a crash near the intersection of Mall Drive and Dinosaur Crossing Drive. A Toyota 4-Runner was attempting to make a right turn onto Dinosaur Crossing, when "the driver drove over the sidewalk and curb at the intersection corner, and then left of center and into the driver side of a minivan that was waiting to turn left," according to a police booking affidavit. "The impact was hard enough to push the minivan back approximately 10 to 15 feet in the roadway."
Police say two adults in the minivan "both indicated that they were in shock, and had been showered with broken glass," the affidavit states. A 71-year-old woman and 34-year-old man in a wheelchair suffered minor injuries.
Inside the 4-Runner, police found "numerous open alcoholic beverages in the passenger compartment," the affidavit states. When officers gave Speedy field sobriety tests, they noted that he "showed significant impairment," according to the affidavit.
Speedy was given a breath test, which measured his blood-alcohol content at 0.303%, or six times Utah's legal limit, according to police.
