- A rideshare driver was arrested in Cedar Hills and accused of hitting and injuring a teenager on a scooter.
- Eric Esparza was taken into custody.
- Police said they found evidence from surveillance footage and traced his vehicle to Lehi.
CEDAR HILLS, Utah County — A rideshare driver was arrested in Cedar Hills on Friday and accused of hitting a teenager on a scooter and then driving off.
Eric Esparza, 24, was booked into the Utah County Jail for investigation of failing to remain at the scene of an accident involving injury, failing to yield to a pedestrian and failing to yield at a stop sign.
On Friday, a 16-year-old boy "was riding his scooter to school when a dark-colored car failed to yield to him at a stop sign, resulting in him being struck by the vehicle," according to a police booking affidavit. "The victim was transported to Primary Children's Hospital, where he was found to have five fractures in his eye/cheek and a concussion."
Police canvassed the neighborhood for home surveillance video and found evidence of the crash.
"The surveillance footage showed the suspect vehicle approaching the stop sign and rolling through it before colliding with the victim," the affidavit states.
Police traced the vehicle to a residence in Lehi.
"An officer with the Lehi Police Department and I went to the address and located the vehicle parked in a driveway. The driver-side front bumper of the vehicle was scratched and damaged, the vehicle also had black rims, a black license plate and a white 'UBER' logo on the passenger side of the front windshield," the arresting officer wrote in the affidavit.
Police knocked on the door and found Esparza.
"I asked Eric to walk me through what had occurred, Eric told me that he was driving for Uber and had dropped an individual off in the neighborhood. Upon leaving he stopped at a stop sign and due to a brick wall to his right he did not see the victim riding his scooter through the intersection and in front of his vehicle," the affidavit says
Esparza claimed he asked the teen if he was OK, "and the victim had told him he was sorry and then Eric left," the affidavit states.
Esparza was then taken into custody and his car impounded.
