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SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Highway Patrol says a car driving on I-80 eastbound wouldn't allow a truck to merge over to get off on his desired exit Friday morning, and witnesses say the car was driving erratically. After missing the exit, the driver in the truck got upset and started following the car to write down its license plate number.
The car then sped off, and the truck followed with both of them reaching speeds of 90 miles per hour while going through the I-80 construction zone, which is posted at 55 mph.
"They are both going in excess of 90 miles per hour. The driver of the pickup truck lost control of the truck. He crossed all the lanes to the right and then crossed all the lanes back to the left," said UHP Trooper Lawrence Hopper. "He hit the concrete barrier on the left-hand shoulder. The impact sent the truck airborne about 30 feet through the air."
The truck came down facing oncoming traffic in the westbound lanes and rolled several times before coming to a stop on its side. Lawrence says, luckily, there was not a head-on collision with other vehicles, but two cars were damaged from chunks of concrete that flew off the barriers.
The driver of the truck was conscious and talking at the crash site, but was taken to the hospital in critical condition with cuts on his head and hands.
"If someone is cutting you off or driving erratically, don't be going 90 miles per hour to catch up with him," said Lawrence, adding the driver was lucky to be alive.
As for the car that was being chased by the truck, troopers don't have much to go on.
Lawrence said, "We know it was a Jaguar. Witnesses stated it was a Jaguar driven by one Hispanic male and occupied by another Hispanic male. That's all we have to go on."
The Utah Department of Transportation had to keep a lane of traffic blocked while replacing four barriers that were damaged in the crash.
E-mail: rjeppesen@ksl.com
