(Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Highway Patrol Col. Michael Rapich, left, and South Jordan Police Chief Jeff Carr thank Mike McMillian for sharing his family's story of loss when a drunk driver who was driving the wrong direction on I-215 killed their adult son "Mikey" in 2015. South Jordan Police and the Utah Highway Patrol said that there will be increased patrols and enforcement over the holiday to catch drunk drivers.
Jan McMillian wept while talking about a March 2015 crash that killed her 27-year-old son, Michael McMillian.
(Courtesy Utah Department of Public Safety) A 22-year-old driver crashed into Micheal McMillian's car in March, 2015. The 22-year-old had a blood alcohol content higher than the legal limit, according to police, and died at the scene. McMillian died three days later. His family told the story of the crash Thursday morning, as law enforcement announced increased patrols and DUI-enforcement between Dec. 15 and the end of the year.
At a Thursday morning news conference announcing increased police efforts to clamp down on drunk driving during the holiday season, Jan McMillian and her husband, Michael McMillian Sr., told the story of the fatal crash in an effort to warn people against driving drunk, or letting friends drive drunk.
The McMillians were joined by Utah Highway Patrol officials, who announced that law enforcement agencies are increasing patrols from Dec. 15 to the end of the year, ending with a major DUI enforcement blitz on New Year’s Eve.
The crash involving Michael McMillian occurred just before midnight on March 25, 2015.
He had been driving to his South Jordan home from a scuba diving class — “I told him if he finished I’d take him to Cayman [Islands],” said his father — when a drunken driver collided head-on with McMillian’s station wagon on Interstate 215.
”It’s hard to wake up and realize losing Michael isn’t a dream, it’s a nightmare,” Jan McMillian said, as she stood in front of a piece of artwork made of broken car parts and smashed beer and wine bottles glued into the shape of an 8-foot-tall Christmas tree.
The other driver was Chanel S. Nielsen, 22, of Sandy, who left a Salt Lake City pub after drinking and — with a blood alcohol content higher than the legal limit, according to law enforcement officers — drove the wrong way on I-15.
Nielsen caught the attention of law enforcement, who flipped on lights and sirens and followed her on the opposite side of the freeway, trying to get her attention, according to McMillian’s father.
Driving south in the northbound lanes, Nielsen turned onto I-215 — again driving against traffic — where she hit the younger McMillian’s car.
Nielsen died at the scene. McMillian, who suffered a head injury, died two days later.
The night of the crash, the elder McMillian also happened to drive I-215 while on his way home from Deer Valley. He was blocked by a police barricade, and didn’t know until he got home that the lights and ambulances had been for the crash involving his son.
(Courtesy Utah Department of Public Safety) A 22-year-old driver crashed into Micheal McMillian's car in March, 2015. The 22-year-old had a blood alcohol content higher than the legal limit, according to police, and died at the scene. McMillian died three days later. His family told the story of the crash Thursday morning, as law enforcement announced increased patrols and DUI-enforcement between Dec. 15 and the end of the year.
“This is a violent death that could have been avoided,” the father said Thursday.
“[This crash] was 100 percent preventable,” echoed Utah Highway Patrol trooper Lawrence Hopper.
Nine of the crashes on Utah roads during the 2016 Christmas weekend were alcohol-related, according to the Department of Public Safety (DPS).
And there were 1,970 alcohol-related crashes in Utah in 2016, according to DPS. That number has decreased since 2007, with a blip upward in 2014.
“This message isn’t just for those that are drinking,” Hopper said. “But it’s for those that are with people that are going to be drinking. Too many times we see friends let friends get behind the wheel after they’ve been drinking.”
The Christmas weekend is one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, according to UHP Colonel Michael Rapich, and troopers will be working overtime to deter drunk driving.
“So please,” Jan McMillian said tearfully. “If you’re going to drink, make a plan.”
In January 2016, McMillian’s parents filed a wrongful death suit in 3rd District Court alleging Piper Down Pub provided the drinks to Nielsen that caused her to become intoxicated, and continued to serve her when the bar should have known she was under the influence. The suit was dismissed a few months later after the parties reached a settlement.
Nielsen’s parents also filed suit, accusing Piper Down of liability in their daughter’s death on the same grounds. Judge James Gardner dismissed the suit, ruling that the law does not impose liability for a “first-party,” who is the person who voluntarily becomes intoxicated and is injured or killed.
Follow @tiffany_mf