'Swath of destruction': Ogden man found guilty of auto homicide during drunken driving spree

OGDEN — An Ogden man has been found guilty of automobile homicide and 13 other counts in connection with a series of crashes, one of them deadly, while drunkenly driving through Ogden, sometimes at speeds of 70 mph.

A jury found Tyson Bryce Treasure, 27, guilty of the 14 counts on Friday following a six-day trial in 2nd District Court in Ogden. He will be sentenced on April 2 and will be held in jail in the interim.

Treasure was arrested on Dec. 27, 2024, after he crashed into several occupied cars in four separate incidents as he drove between Ogden Regional Medical Center in Washington Terrace and 12th Street and Harrison Boulevard in Ogden, where his car was finally disabled. He struck a stopped car at 20th Street and Harrison, which in turn pushed another car in front of it into a man, James Wood, in the crosswalk at the intersection, killing him.

That led to the conviction for automobile homicide, a second-degree felony, while injuries sustained by two others in the varied crashes led to guilty findings on two counts of aggravated assault, a second-degree felony.

Treasure "cut a swath of destruction and injury and death in our community that went for 10 miles almost and lasted 18 minutes," Branden Miles, deputy Weber County attorney, said during closing arguments in the case.

Original charging documents said Treasure's blood-alcohol level measured 0.248% before he left Ogden Regional Medical Center while it measured 0.177% after the chain of crashes, when he was booked into jail. As part of the automobile homicide guilty finding, the jury determined that the level surpassed 0.05%, the legal limit.

Treasure was also found guilty of leaving the scene of an accident involving death, failure to stop at the command of a police officer and leaving the scene of an accident causing serious injury, third-degree felonies. He was found guilty of three counts of negligently driving a car resulting in injury, a class A misdemeanor, and five counts of failure to comply with required duties at an accident causing property damage, a class B misdemeanor.

On the most serious charge related to the death of Wood, who was 64, the jury had been tasked with considering murder, a first-degree felony, automobile homicide or acquittal, opting for the lesser of the two possible charges. Wood had been walking his dog when he was struck and killed, according to a GoFundMe fundraiser organized in the aftermath of his death.

'He had relapsed'

The chain of events leading to the death of Wood began when Treasure went to Ogden Regional Medical Center seeking help, his attorney, Benjamin Richards, said in closing arguments.

"He was intoxicated. He shouldn't have done that, but he drove to the hospital to get help. He knew he had relapsed, is struggling. He needed help," Richards said. He went to the hospital "to not only save his own life but to do right by his family, to do right by our community."

At the hospital, health care officials administered Ativan, used to treat anxiety, when Treasure abruptly decided to leave, despite admonishments by hospital officials to stay. He struck a parked car while leaving the hospital parking lot and hit occupied vehicles as he was driving at 40th Street and Washington Boulevard, 42nd Street and Harrison, 20th Street and Harrison and 12th Street and Harrison, where Treasure's car was finally disabled.

Numerous people called police during Treasure's drive, and along the way, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper attempted to stop the man but ultimately ended the pursuit. Miles said Treasure reached speeds of 70 mph and described the man as variously disentangling himself from the crashes he caused and weaving in and out of traffic.

"In this case, the state has tried to turn a complex medical and human situation into a simple story of a drunk driver who just didn't care. But that's not what the evidence shows," Richards said. "The evidence shows a man who did what we ask people to do when they're struggling. He went to the hospital to get help."

Richards further noted what he said was the impact of the Ativan on Treasure's mental state in combination with alcohol. He suggested hospital staff could have done more to stop Treasure as he left, though Miles described the man as combative, and countered language of the murder count that requires "depraved indifference" to be found guilty of the charge.

"You cannot simply assume that he had clear, knowing, conscious awareness that the murder statute requires," Richards said. The alcohol and Ativan "stripped him of the ability to act knowingly."

Wood left behind a wife, children and grandchildren.

"He proudly graduated from Roy High School and pursued a career at tool engineering as a curb machine assembly tech," reads his obituary. "Beyond his professional pursuits, James was an avid tinkerer, finding joy in working on automobiles, riding horses and motorcycles. His love for animals was evident in the care he provided to all creatures."

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