Woman dies when drunk driver chased by police slams into car, Utah officers say

A police pursuit of an accused drunk driver ended in a fatal collision with another car Saturday in Salt Lake City, authorities said.

North Salt Lake City police began chasing a Ford F-250 pickup truck on U.S. 89 around noon after a 911 caller reported seeing the driver passing “what appeared to be a whiskey bottle” back and forth with a passenger, KSTU reported.

The driver exited the freeway into a residential neighborhood of Salt Lake City, where the truck crashed into another car containing two women, KTVX reported.

One woman died and the other was critically hurt, KSL reported. The two men in the pickup truck were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.

“Our condolences go out to the families of the victims and the victims themselves,” Sgt. Mitch Gwilliam with North Salt Lake Police told KUTV. “This is a very unfortunate situation that they got involved in, not at their will.”

Bottles were found at the scene of the crash, KSL reported.

Charges are pending against the pickup truck driver, police told KUTV. Police did not release the names of any of those involved or further information about the women.

Police ask that anyone with information or video of the incident contact 801-799-3000 and reference case number 21-190757.

Gwilliam told KSTU that police will review whether officers should have ended the chase after it entered a residential neighborhood.

“There’s always some concern,” he told the station. “The reason for the pursuit needs to outweigh the public safety (risk).”

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This story was originally published October 17, 2021 at 12:28 PM with the headline "Woman dies when drunk driver chased by police slams into car, Utah officers say."