Estimated read time: 2-3 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
Tonya Papanikolas ReportingA rash of hit and run wrecks leave officers baffled as to what drivers are thinking when they take off.
"I think it's even a greater duty than what the law has for us, there's that duty as a human being to, what did I hit? And go back and find out."
Police have arrested a man in last night's auto-pedestrian accident. Officers say they're seeing too many hit and run crashes right now.
Officers told us there's a variety of reasons people are taking off after they hit someone. Some have other warrants out for them; some are afraid of their insurance costs; others are just afraid of charges. But if they leave the scene of an accident, they could risk spending up to a year in jail.
After hitting a man walking across the street on North Temple yesterday evening, police say the driver took off.
Lt. Paul Jaroscak, Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office: “It constantly amazes me that people would leave the scene of an accident."
The man who was hit ended up dying and the owner of the car called police to tell them where the driver was. They tracked down Wail Aomar Mohamed Ahmed and arrested him on suspicion of hit and run, automobile homicide and reckless driving.
Lt. Paul Jaroscak, Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office: “Even if you think you've hit something but you're not sure, as a human being, you would think you would go back and at least want to make sure."
But it seems more and more drivers are taking off. Last night's accident was the fifth we have covered in under two months where the driver hit a pedestrian or biker and fled the scene. That's half of the number we covered for all of last year.
Lt. Paul Jaroscak: “I would like people to be a little more aware of their surroundings."
Earlier this month 15-year-old Devin Butler was riding his bike to school when a 19-year-old driver hit him and took off. The month before, a young woman hit and killed a father of two as he was scraping ice off his car windows. Both of the suspects in those cases later turned themselves in.
However, police are still looking for the driver who hit a 13-year-old boy on his way to school and left him on the side of the road in Magna.
Lt. Paul Jaroscak: “If it's an injury accident, we have the responsibility to stop and render aid, call the police, summon aid, somehow help that person that we've hit."
The charge automobile homicide is associated with being intoxicated while driving, so that tells us Ahmed was under the influence of alcohol when he drove away last night. We've also learned this isn't his first arrest. He was arrested for public intoxication two years ago and was driving with a suspended or revoked license last night.
