Logan, UT : Police identify men involved in Wellsville crash on Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Police say the victim in an explosive crash on U.S. Highway 89/91 in Wellsville Wednesday afternoon has been identified as William Gray, a reserve police officer for the Rigby Police Department.
“He is a good dude, one of the nicest, most genuine people you could meet,” Rigby Police Chief Sam Tower said Thursday.
Tower said Gray has been a reserve officer with his department for about five years and has been nothing but faithful and diligent in his service.
Gray was transporting a heavy load of sand from one Staker-Parson facility to another Wednesday when a Brigham City man driving a pickup crashed into his semi truck at high speed, with an impact that caused an explosion and ignited both trucks.
When Gray’s truck finally come to a stop north of the impact point, he was able to exit the truck on his own, although he was in flames. A Utah Highway Patrol trooper on scene coaxed him away from the truck and used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames. Gray was transported to Logan Regional Hospital by ambulance and later flown to the University of Utah Burn Center.
The driver of the pickup truck has been identified as 26-year-old Marcos Torres of Brigham City, who was killed in the collision. Jensen said circumstances leading up to the crash remain under investigation.
While the Logan City Police Department is still sorting out many of the details, Jensen said he had nothing but praise for the way the Utah Highway Patrol handled this call, saying they showed good judgment, good decision making and remained absolutely collected throughout the incident.
“From my vision, I think they did a fantastic job,” he said.
Jensen described some of what he saw on the video, from the point when Torres pulled onto the road from the Welcome Mart parking lot in front of a trooper who was approaching the area.
“He turned on his turn signal to go south and then he just sits there, and he sits there,” Jensen said.
While he can’t speak for the troopers on duty Wednesday or what their thought processes were at this point, Jensen said he can offer some perspective on things that have to be considered before a law enforcement officer goes in pursuit of another driver.
The moment Torres finally stepped on the gas to enter U.S. 89/91, Jensen said the officer would have had to determine if the driver is accelerating to reach highway speed or if perhaps the driver is somehow not aware of the officer’s presence.
And then, once it becomes apparent “this is real” and the driver does not intend to stop, then the officer must quickly assess policy, public safety, time of day and traffic levels before deciding to go after a driver, Jensen said.
In this case, he continued, dispatchers received several 911 calls from people reporting the driver of a black Chevy Silverado who was driving erratically, so then an officer also has an obligation to weigh the dangers of a pursuit versus the dangers to the public if the driver is allowed to continue recklessly.
Jensen said after reviewing the video footage, he does not believe the trooper had enough time to process all of those factors before Torres suddenly veered off to the left and struck the semi.
Source :
Police identify men involved in Wellsville crash