Felony charges filed in deadly hit-and-run

PLEASANT GROVE — Felony charges were filed Friday against a driver in a hit-and-run auto-pedestrian collision that killed a 9-year-old boy.

80-year-old George Hunter was charged with second-degree felony manslaughter and third-degree felony leaving the scene of an accident involving death.

On April 29, witnesses told police a white Chevy truck turned right from southbound 900 West to westbound 2600 North, running over 9-year-old Dalton Gibbs and his bicycle.

According to charging documents, the truck dragged the boy about 50 feet, and pieces of his bike were found more than two blocks away.

The documents stated that witnesses said that the truck left the scene despite their attempts to honk, yell and wave at the driver to get him to stop.

Investigators wrote that they identified the driver as Hunter and later located him at the Spanish Fork Fairgrounds, where he told them that he had seen a driver that looked “panicked” waving at him to stop and he believed he saw a bicycle under that car.

He said the person waved him on, so he drove on, according to the court documents.

Hunter then heard a screeching noise from under his truck and saw a bicycle in the rearview, according to the probable cause statement, causing him to pull over, get out of his truck and put the bicycle on the curb.

According to the documents, Hunter waited there for about seven minutes, but nobody came and he heard no sirens, so he left.

The documents stated that home surveillance video showed that Hunter waited for less than a minute before leaving.

In June, Tyler and Kim Gibbs — Dalton’s parents — told KSL TV they had met with the driver and forgave him.

“We know he didn’t intend to do this,” Kim Gibbs said at the time. “There has been a significant amount of peace and healing that has come for us being willing to forgive quickly, and it has opened our hearts to a lot of healing rapidly and in a surprising way.”

On Monday, the couple declined a new interview but instead provided a statement:

We are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of love and support from our community, church members, and the tremendous first responders and medical professionals. We love and miss our son Dalton every day. We have been in contact with the driver, and in the spirit of healing and compassion, we have extended our forgiveness to him for the accident that caused our family so much harm. This tragedy has changed our lives, his included. We know that he is deeply remorseful. We don’t desire that he or his family should endure additional punishment beyond what they’ve already experienced. We do not believe that incarceration or similar severe measures will provide the good that is needed. We believe there are other options that can be explored to ensure public safety and maintain the integrity of the driver’s family. To be clear, we are not the ones pressing charges. When the County Attorney’s office shared with us that they would be charging the driver, we shared these same sentiments with them. We desire everyone to be made whole.”

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