Elderly man charged in ATV crash with 4 boys


Save Story
Leer en español

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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.

NORTH LOGAN — An elderly man is facing charges after crashing into four young boys on a small ATV. Two of the boys were seriously injured, officials said.

Police initially reported that the July 29 accident occurred when both parties were traveling opposite directions on the road near 3100 N. 1600 East, but veered the same way while attempting to avoid a collision.

Upon further investigation with Utah Highway Patrol, North Park police learned the boys were stopped on the side of the road next to the canal when North Logan resident Erin Herbert Milligan, 71, drove up in his truck, North Park Police Chief Kim Hawkes said.

Hawkes said Milligan, who leases the farmland next to the canal, drove on the left side of the road in an attempt to stop the boys from continuing forward and went to talk to them.

When he approached them, his foot allegedly slipped off the brake and onto the gas pedal. He attempted to turn left to avoid the collision, but his truck pinned the ATV in the canal.

One of the boys was knocked off the back and onto the bank, but the other three fell into the canal and were injured. Two sustained serious injuries, including a broken pelvis and hip, broken ribs and an ankle and a bicep laceration that required surgery, Hawkes said.

Milligan was uninjured in the accident. He was charged in 1st District Court, and a summons was issued for him to be arraigned in court on Nov. 16.

According to Cache County Attorney James Swink, Milligan has been charged on suspicion of reckless endangerment, a class A misdemeanor and reckless driving, a class B misdemeanor which could potentially mean up to a year and a half in the Cache County Jail.

Several thousand dollars of fines and fees also may be assessed in court, Swink said.

Swink said it's believed the boys were driving in an area that wasn't closed to the public.

"This is a really unfortunate circumstance for everyone involved. But we just want to encourage people to be very prudent and cautious wherever they're in a motor vehicle," Swink said.


This is a really unfortunate circumstance for everyone involved. But we just want to encourage people to be very prudent and cautious wherever they're in a motor vehicle.

–Cache County Attorney James Swink


Some of the boys — all around 12 or 13 years old — are related. Hawkes said the families were concerned when they thought the investigation was closed before they were able to tell their side of the story.

At that point, an investigator with Utah Highway Patrol interviewed the boys and police filed an amended report.

"… After meeting with the family, I felt that it was important to be able to bring whatever resources you could in to help them feel confident in the outcome of that investigation," Hawkes said. "And so I feel very confident now that we've done the things that needed to be done and that we've reached an adequate conclusion."

Contributing: Peter Samore, Pat Reavy

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Megan Marsden Christensen

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast