Millcreek • A Unified Police Department officer, investigating a report of someone lying in a parking lot late Tuesday, ran over that person with a car, a spokesman said.
Cindreia Simone Europe, 25, died, though part of the investigation will determine if she was dead before the officer ran over her, said UPD Detective Ken Hansen. The officer who was driving is on administrative leave pending the investigation, Hansen said.
At 10:51 p.m., the officer was investigating a report of what police call a “man down” in the parking lot of Highline Plaza, a shopping center at 3300 S. 2300 East in Millcreek.
Police usually find such people against the sides of a building, but the woman was about 30 or 40 feet west of a Zions Bank branch, Hansen said. Europe was wearing dark clothing, Hansen said.
After hitting Europe, the officer stopped, called for medical assistance and attempted to give her aid, Hansen said, who added that one question for the medical examiner will be whether Europe was already dead.
Europe is from Georgia, Hansen said, and had been seen in the area recently.
(Nate Carlisle | The Salt Lake Tribune) Paint marks the scene where a Unified Police Department officer ran over a woman in a parking lot on the night of March 5, 2019, at 3300 S. 2300 East in Millcreek.
Hansen said Europe had been sleeping her car, which was towed the day she died.
Russ Drury, who works in the area, told FOX 13 he’d called to have the car towed. He said he thought it was abandoned because it had two flat tires, although there was a sleeping bag inside.
“I feel terrible, because that’s probably where she was living. If I would have let her have her house there for a little longer...," he said, trailing off.
Hansen said the officer is new to UPD, but he didn’t know whether the officer had worked at another police force before.
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