This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Three people were killed and another was critically injured early Saturday after a car ran off Interstate 80 and flipped into a retention pond, authorities said.
The 24-year-old driver of the black Volkswagen, who survived, sped out of a parking garage at Salt Lake City International Airport at about 5 a.m. and would not stop for a police officer, according to Lt. Jeff Nigber, of the Utah Highway Patrol.
The Airport Police Department officer attempted a traffic stop for the speeding violation but the driver drove east on I-80. The officer followed until his supervisor terminated the chase.
Nigber said the officer was starting to do a U-turn at an authorized point on the highway median when he saw a dust cloud. He continued east to an exit that goes onto southbound Interstate 215, where he spotted the car in the small body of water off the roadway.
Another airport officer and several Highway Patrol troopers arrived as backup and they found two males and one female inside the vehicle, which was turned upside-down in the small body of water off the roadway. The driver, a man, was found hiding in the reeds, Nigber said.
He was taken to Intermountain Medical Center in critical condition with head trauma and broken bones.
The Airport Police Department is investigating the crash. Names of the car's occupants have not been released.
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC