A Midvale truck driver has been charged with shopping online on his phone while driving a semi when he ran into the back of a sedan in Summit County in May, killing one person and paralyzing another.
Nathaniel R. Bone, 37, was charged Friday in 3rd District Court with “text messaging or email automobile homicide,” a second degree felony, for May 27 crash.
Bone also was charged with texting or emailing while driving, a class B misdemeanor.
He was transporting two tankers of crude oil from Uintah Basin to Salt Lake City along State Road 40 when he hit the back of a Saturn sedan just after midnight. The crash occurred near Milepost 6, which is six miles south of Sliver Creek Junction.
Investigators later found Bone was going 39 mph up a hill when he crashed into Sandra Bowden and her passenger, Landon Peatross, according to charging documents. A Utah Highway Patrol report says the semi had just crested the hill when it hit the slower moving car.
Speed limits on highways in Utah are generally between 65 mph and 80 mph. Bone told police when climbing the hill where the crash occurred, his semi is usually the slowest vehicle in the area.
Bowden, 40, of West Jordan, was flown to a hospital and suffered a broken back, broken ribs and lacerated organs. She was paralyzed from the waist down due to the accident. Peatross, 41, of Duchesne, was pronounced dead within 40 minutes of the crash, charging documents state.
The crash pushed the rear bumper of the sedan up to the front seats of the car. The semitruck sustained minimal damage.
Bone initially told investigators he glanced at his GPS just before the crash, but later admitted he was searching KSL.com classifieds for a new car for his wife, according to charging documents.
He said he looked at his phone while driving commercial vehicles when he felt conditions were safe enough to do so.
Review of an in-dash camera system installed in the semitruck showed the sedan merge into the lane Bone was traveling in, at a safe distance in front of the semitruck., and then slow down for deer crossing the road. A short time later Bone hit the back of the sedan, according to charging documents.
The Summit County jail said Friday afternoon that Bone was not currently booked into jail.
An initial court date is set for Jan. 8