Smithfield man charged with hitting, killing pedestrian in Logan

LOGAN — A Smithfield man was charged Monday with hitting and killing a pedestrian in a parking lot in Logan while under the influence of alcohol.

Chad Hurren Saunders, 44, is charged in 1st District Court with automobile homicide, a second-degree felony.

On Saturday, Saunders was driving through a parking lot when he struck a pedestrian with his vehicle, according to charging documents. The pedestrian was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition, then flown to a trauma center and later died from her injuries, police said.

No information about the victim was included in the court documents.

Saunders was not given a field sobriety test, but was later contacted by police and asked to do a blood draw. At the police station, officers detected a "heavy odor of alcohol on his breath" and Saunders "spontaneously admitted to drinking heavily last night and again drinking in the morning," a police booking affidavit states.

Saunders was initially charged with negligently operating a vehicle resulting in serious injury, a third-degree felony. But that charge was amended Monday to the more serious charge of automobile homicide.

"(Saunders) had previously consumed a large amount of alcoholic beverages and was driving his vehicle through a parking lot when he struck a pedestrian with his vehicle," the charges state.

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