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Two people were dead and two more were fighting for life Wednesday morning after a wrong-way driver collided head-on with another vehicle on Interstate 15 near Fillmore.
Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce said that about 7:30 a.m., troopers responding to reports of a reckless driver on the freeway spotted the Jeep Cherokee speeding northbound in the southbound lanes. Moments later, the Cherokee collided with a southbound Honda Civic near mile post 157, about eight miles south of Fillmore.
Two people in the southbound Honda — the driver, Larry J. Martin, 25, of West Jordan; and rear-seat passenger Kaela Hernandez, 27, of American Fork — were dead at the scene.
Martin, who was not wearing a seatbelt, and Hernandez, who was sleeping unrestrained on the rear seat, were both ejected from the Honda, the UHP reported,
A front-seat passenger in the Honda, 29-year-old Joseph C. Martin, of Eagle Mountain, was critically injured and taken to Fillmore Community Medical Center. He was wearing a seatbelt, the UHP said.
The wrong-way driver, Jessie N. Wilkerson, 18, of St. George, was in "very critical condition," Royce said. Wilkerson who was pinned inside her car and had to be extricated, was not wearing a seatbelt.
Troopers said they were investigating possible impairment as a factor in why Wilkerson driving on the wrong side of the road.
— Reporter Michael McFall contributed to this story.
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