The Utah County Attorney’s office Thursday announced manslaughter charges against an Eagle Mountain man who police said was high on meth when he struck and killed two toddlers last week.
Witnesses said Kent Cody Barlow, 25, was driving recklessly at about 100 mph before his car flew off the road near 2300 N. 1600 West on the evening of May 7. The car then crashed through a multiple fences, including one bordering a horse corral where the two 3-year-olds — Odin Ratliff and Hunter Jackson — had been playing.
The boys were killed instantly when the car struck them. The vehicle then hit a large large cement block and flew into the air, landing upside-down on a horse stable about 345 feet from where it had left the road.
Utah County Attorney David Leavitt said his office decided to charge Barlow with manslaughter, rather than automobile homicide, because the manslaughter charge “more fully encapsulates what occurred in this case,” and that it carries “more gravitas through the whole process.”
“Our hearts go out to the Ratliff and Jackson families who are suffering the incalculable loss of two 3-year-old children,” Leavitt said in a virtual news conference Thursday.
Police documents state that the car left the road a short distance from a stop sign on Tiffany Lane, where the posted speed limit is 45 mph. The damage caused by the vehicle indicated the car’s high rate of speed, and that it had not stopped at the stop sign.
First responders also found three passengers in Barlow’s vehicle who were in “various states of injury.” Barlow told police in the area to race his car, but had little memory after hitting a bump at the time of the crash.
Police documents state that preliminary test results showed the presence of methamphetamine and amphetamines in Barlow’s system. He told officers he had used methamphetamine on the Sunday prior to the crash.
Barlow faces two counts of second-degree felony manslaughter in connection with the fatal crash, each punishable by one to 15 years in Utah State Prison.
Prosecutors did not pursue drug charges in this case, Leavitt said, because in most cases where lesser charges also are brought, such charges are typically dealt away in order to relieve the state of its burden of proving its case. Leavitt said his policy is that the government should always prove its case.
Barlow has been convicted of previous drug offenses in recent years. Last year he served time for an incident in 2019, when he stole a motorcycle and fled in a police patrol car when he was stopped. He was released in October 2021. He also was charged with a speeding infraction in late March 2022.
Barlow is being held at Utah State Prison. His initial appearance is scheduled for next Thursday.
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