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The Tooele County Sheriff's Office is awaiting results of blood tests before deciding whether to file charges against the driver in a fatal ATV accident over the weekend.
Tooele County spokesman Wade Matthews said Monday the 32-year-old driver of the four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle was heading downhill in Middle Canyon Sunday afternoon when his rig drifted off the right side of the road and into some trees. A 7-year-old girl, Miranda Anderson, was riding on the seat, in front of the driver.
A low-hanging branch punctured the girl's neck, tearing an artery. The girl's father, who was riding behind the ATV on his motorcycle, grabbed his daughter and rushed five miles down the canyon in order to get cell phone reception to call 911.
Paramedics arrived to find the girl unresponsive, despite efforts to revive her. She was pronounced dead at a hospital in Tooele a short time later.
Matthews said sheriff's deputies, concerned the driver — described as a friend of the girl's mother — may have been impaired, obtained a search warrant to obtain a blood-alcohol testing samples from the man, who underwent surgery for a knee injury at the hospital.
Results of those tests were not expected for at least a couple days, Matthews said.
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