Judge orders dump truck driver to stand trial in fatal crash, dismisses charges for truck's owner

SALT LAKE CITY — Manslaughter charges against a dump truck's owner were dismissed after a judge ruled there was not enough evidence he committed a crime, but the driver of the truck at the time of a fatal crash is still facing charges.

The owner, Dalton Nathan Wheeler, 32, and driver, Jonathan Ryan Sargent, 37, were charged on Oct. 1, 2025 — three years after the crash that killed Jessica Minnesota and her unborn child — with two counts of manslaughter, a second-degree felony. Prosecutors say Minnesota, 36, was 12 weeks pregnant and died at the scene from blunt force injuries.

A Mack dump truck being driven by Sargent for Alpine Excavating, which is operated by Wheeler, collided with a Honda Pilot on Aug. 15, 2022 at 5710 East Big Cottonwood Canyon Road near Storm Mountain. An analysis showed the annual safety inspection was last done in Nov. 2019, and it had multiple problems with its brakes.

Minnesota's mother and 4-year-old son were taken to the hospital in critical condition, the child via life flight, and her 2-year-old was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

Sargent was also transported to the hospital.

Third District Judge Patricia Kuendig found that there was not probable cause to support the manslaughter charge against Wheeler and dismissed his charges following a preliminary hearing. On June 23, the judge heard testimony from an officer who responded and a detective on the collision analysis and reconstruction unit.

After the hearing, attorneys filed written briefs arguing whether or not there was enough evidence to hold a trial and returned to court for oral arguments on Sept. 1 and Sept. 29, when the judge ruled to dismiss Wheeler's charges and order Sargent to stand trial.

'Consistently disregarded' safety concerns?

Jennifer Zeleny, deputy Salt Lake County attorney, argued in the written motion that Sargent and Wheeler were "aware of and consciously disregarded" the safety risks associated with operating the dump truck while it was in disrepair. It also claimed that Wheeler, who oversaw the inspections and maintenance for the vehicles, "recklessly tolerated" Sargent's operation of the truck.

Less than a month before the crash, there was a service call for the dump truck because it would not go into reverse, and when he arrived, the owner of the truck had parked it against the curb "because the brakes wouldn't support the truck's weight," the attorney argued. At that time, the technician told the owner that the brakes needed to have more work done.

The legal brief also said the day of the collision Sargent talked with another driver about the truck popping out of gear and how to address it. Zeleny said the truck popped out of gear and Sargent was relying on the service brakes in the canyon road, but they were not able to slow him, so he decided to cross into oncoming traffic to run into the side of the mountain as he came up on a blind curve.

The Honda was coming around the same curve, and Sargent attempted to go back into his lane, but was going over 52 mph and instead rolled onto its left side, hitting the Honda and spilling its load into the car.

Prosecutors said Utah's precedent for criminal responsibility of business for homicide is "barren," but they cited other cases in Arizona where a business was held criminally responsible under a similar law. It also cited a nurse being charged with negligent homicide after an inmate's death. Although she was ordered to stand trial, that resulted in a mistrial, and the judge later ruled in a bench trial that the nurse was not guilty.

No evidence he knew

Wheeler's attorney, David Ferguson, argued that he was not personally aware of the risks of driving the vehicle, and said prosecutors were asking the judge to speculate when she should not. He cited an investigator's testimony that he "didn't delve into" what Wheeler knew.

"No legal authority allows a court to convict a person based on what other employees may have known," he argued.

The attorney also argued there is no evidence the problems with the brakes had existed earlier, and some of them could have been caused by the collision. He said the technician from a few weeks before the crash wrote on the receipt that he had "also adjusted brakes," and there was no reason for Wheeler to infer that they needed a follow-up.

Although there was no official annual inspection, Ferguson argued Alpine Excavating had a third-party check the tires of the trucks each Sunday, drug tested drivers and compensated drivers for pre and post-trip inspections. His filing said there is no evidence an annual inspection would have caught the issues with the truck because it is unknown when the brakes were first in bad condition.

Sargent testified in a deposition that he was trying to travel no faster than 25 mph. After being unable to put the truck in a lower gear because of its speed, he applied the service brakes, eventually standing on the brake pedal with both feet. He said the brakes were working, but were not enough to stop the truck.

He estimated there were one or two minutes between losing his gear and the collision, and there was no indication the brakes were not working until after the truck popped out of gear. Because the truck was not in gear, he was unable to use the engine brake along with the service brake.

Wheeler and Sargent were not booked in jail, but filled out the required paperwork for a book and release at an early hearing, court records show.

Sargent is scheduled for an arraignment on Nov. 9, where he will enter a plea.

Minnesota's family filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit against Alpine Excavation, Sargent and others in 2024, which was settled in July.

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