West Valley City, UT – DUI Suspect Steals Car, Crashes into Bus, Injures Pedestrian Near 2700 West

West Valley City, UT (May 15, 2022) – West Valley City Police arrested a man on Friday, May 13th after he ran from police, rear-ended a bus, and struck a pedestrian on a sidewalk.

After allegedly stealing a car from an apartment complex in West Valley City, officers spotted the suspect driving erratically.

An officer witnessed the man rear-end a bus. When the officer attempted to pull him over, he fled.

Officials said that the suspect struck multiple other vehicles, but eventually slowed down and pulled into a parking lot off 2700 West.

As they were placing him under arrest, police learned that, in addition to the damaged vehicles, the man also struck a pedestrian when he drove up onto a sidewalk. Although injuries were confirmed, the victim’s condition is unknown.

The driver was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, evading the police, and other potential charges.

The suspect’s identity has not been released.

Our thoughts are with the injured victim and their family at this time. We hope for their full recovery.

Drivers Under the Influence in Utah

After an accident involving a drunk driver, you need to seek medical care immediately. Automobile collisions usually cause their victims to experience critical injuries. In addition, you can make your injuries worse by refusing medical attention. In this situation, the best thing you can do is to consent to an exam by the emergency medical services team even if you are not showing any obvious indications of physical injuries.

Some of the most common injuries the victims of Utah drunk driving accidents sustain include:

• Traumatic Brain Injury: When people think of head injuries, they often imagine something simple such as dizziness and headaches. There are cases, however, when these symptoms indicate something much more serious, like a traumatic brain injury. In order to ensure that a TBI is properly identified, a professional medical diagnosis is required.  
• Broken Bones: Broken bones vary in their severity. A broken bone can encompass anything from a hairline fracture to a compound fracture where the bone is protruding through the skin. Although broken bones eventually heal, it can take some victims a long time to fully recover.
• Crush Injuries: A crush injury occurs when a part of the body is trapped in wreckage from a crash. A medical team needs to quickly extricate you in order to prevent the crush injury from becoming increasingly severe.  
• Burn Injuries: In some circumstances, a vehicle crash can lead to a fire. Vehicle fires often cause collision victims to sustain serious burn injuries and even asphyxiate. 

Just like any other personal injury case, victims are entitled to financial compensation from the responsible party. They will, however, have to prove that the driver’s neglect was responsible for their accident. If the victim is able to establish the negligent driver’s liability for the crash, they could be eligible to collect: 

• Economic Damages: Economic damage is a tangible, calculable damage that impacts the victim’s economic resources. The person liable is required by the law to compensate the victim for their damages. The victim of a drunk driving accident is able to receive remuneration for their medical expenses, lost income, and damage to their property.
• Non-Economic Damages: Drunk driving victims frequently endure emotional anguish or other mental health problems following their accident or an accident in which they lost a family member. In these cases, a victim is able to demand non-economic damages from the respondent. These are immaterial damages that do not have anything to do with the victim’s finances.
• Punitive Damages: Punitive damages are intended as a punishment rather than as compensation. A court might appoint punitive damages to the respondent if they feel that their actions were grossly negligent.

If you were hurt due to someone’s irresponsible driving, contact our personal injury attorneys in Utah at 801-350-3506 to schedule a free case review.  

Notes: The details and information utilized to create this post were gathered through the use of secondary sources. The details surrounding this accident have not been independently verified by the writing staff at Jardine Law Offices. These sources include but are not limited to newspaper stories, local news sources, local and state police reports, and eyewitness accounts about serious accidents that take place in Farmington and Salt Lake City, Utah. If you locate any information that is inaccurate, please contact us right away so that we can update the post with the most accurate information available. If you would like the post to be removed, please let us know and we will remove it as soon as possible. 

Disclaimers: The attorneys at Jardine Law Offices have worked hard through the years to build a solid business reputation in the community. We write about these serious incidents to bring awareness about the dangers associated with driving in hopes that our fellow community members will use an abundance of caution when operating a motor vehicle and avoid being involved in a serious accident themselves. This story is not intended to be a solicitation for business. The information provided in this post should not be misconstrued as medical or legal advice. The photos used in this post are not taken from the scene of this accident.