A woman died after a stolen car she was riding in crashed head-on into a pickup truck in West Valley City on Tuesday morning.
The 35-year-old driver of the stolen car told police he dropped something while driving south near 2900 South on Redwood Road at 8:15 a.m, according to West Valley City police spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku. When he reached down to get the item, he veered into oncoming traffic and hit a northbound pickup truck head-on, Vainuku said.
The driver of the stolen car suffered broken bones. But the crash trapped his 25-year-old female passenger in the car, and she was in extremely critical condition after being extricated, Vainuku said. West Valley City police tweeted later that the woman’s name was Elcina Tso.
Police have not released details of the man and woman’s relationship, or how they got the car.
“We know that it was reported stolen. We don’t know why this person had it or how he came to be in possession of the vehicle, so that’s something we’ll be investigating,” Vainuku said.
Neither the driver nor the passenger of the pickup truck was injured in the crash, she said.
Northbound lanes of Redwood Road were closed during the investigation and reopened at 3 p.m.