This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Posted: 10:45 AM- SPRINGVILLE - Police say a teenage driver who lost control of her car while scrambling to capture her pet gerbil wasn't cited for an accident that hospitalized two people.
Lt. Dave Caron says the gerbil escaped from its cage while the 17-year-old driver was southbound on state Route 51 Tuesday morning.
Making a grab for the fuzzy escape artist, the driver veered off the road and hit a stranded truck hooked to another truck by jumper cables.
The impact pushed the two trucks together, pinning a woman in between. She suffered a broken leg. A male co-worker helping the woman with her truck also suffered a broken leg. Both were taken to a Utah County hospital.
Neither the teen nor her gerbil were hurt.