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ROOSEVELT — A 17-year-old girl has a long road ahead of her after police say she was hit by an alleged drunk driver.
It happened last Thursday around 9:30 p.m. in Duchesne County. Haylee Carter and two of her friends were headed to get fast food in Roosevelt when 19-year-old Darius Robert Tapoof hit them, according to police reports.
Marian Carter, Haylee's mother, said she got a call Thursday night that her daughter had been in a crash.
"She said, 'Your daughter has been in a terrible accident and you need to come," Marian Carter told KSL-TV. As she arrived, the scene looked grim with debris everywhere.
"I thought, 'Not my baby, not my baby,'" she said.
Tapoof now faces numerous charges, including leaving the scene of the accident.
Haylee Carter's arms are broken and her femur is shattered, along with other injuries. When her mother arrived at the scene, crews had just used the jaws of life to cut her out of her truck, which was destroyed.
"The hardest thing is to see your child in so much pain," said Marian Carter, who hasn't left her daughter's side since she arrived at Primary Children's Hospital.
Haylee Carter plays the violin and is about to start her senior year at Altamont High School in Duchesne County. She's a student body officer. She loves the truck that was destroyed in the crash.
Now, instead of starting school in the next couple of weeks, she will be working through injuries so severe that doctors said it will take months of recovery.
The family has mounting expenses and has set up a GoFundMe*.
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
