A police chase spanning two counties Wednesday ended when the fleeing car crashed in Summit County, killing a female passenger and causing major delays on U.S. Route 40 near Park City.
Daisha Reynolds, 19, of Salt Lake City, was killed after a Summit County deputy attempted to deploy a tire-deflating device to stop the fleeing car, which police said had been reported stolen. The car swerved and lost control near milepost 2 on U.S. 40.
The driver, a 22-year-old Salt Lake City man, was critically injured and airlifted to a Salt Lake area hospital for treatment, police said. No law enforcement officers were injured.
Early Wednesday, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office initially received a call that a black passenger car had been stolen from a parking lot in Hideout, located in Wasatch County. That call was transferred to the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office, according to a news release.
About an hour later, a Midway resident called the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office to report that people had been trying to break into a car, the release stated. The people then got into a black car and drove off, the caller said.
Police said the description of the car they left in matched the description of the car reported stolen earlier that morning, and deputies set out to find it. A Wasatch County deputy first reported locating it on state Route 113 and tried to stop it, according to the release.
When the driver refused to stop, deputies pursued the vehicle through Midway — stopping and starting the pursuit again twice as they lost sight of the car. The pursuit was resumed again on a road that led to U.S. 40, where police said the fleeing car reached speeds in excess of 95 mph.
A “multi-agency critical incident investigation” is underway, according to the release. The Utah Attorney General’s Office, the West Valley Police Department and the Park City Police Department are assisting.
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