UINTAH COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) — A Utah child was killed as a result of a drunk driving incident in Ballard, Utah, on Saturday, Sept. 2, according to the Uintah County Sheriff’s Office.
The driver, Monie Rose Manning-Miller, 34, was arrested for the offenses of negligently operating a vehicle resulting in death, a second-degree felony; and open container/drinking alcohol in a vehicle, a class C misdemeanor.
On Saturday, officers were dispatched to a “vehicle versus person crash” near 2000 South in Ballard, Utah, according to the probable cause statement. Officers said that a vehicle had hit a juvenile who was riding a bike.
The juvenile reportedly sustained a severe head injury and life saving measures were conducted by individuals on scene. When officers arrived, they said the juvenile had already been picked up by an ambulance and was transported to the Uintah Basin Medical Center.
Officers reportedly talked to another bicyclist that was riding with the juvenile, who stated that they were traveling northbound in the southbound lane when a car traveling southbound came off the hill and hit the juvenile. The bicyclist said he looked back when he heard the car hit the juvenile, and as he looked back he saw the juvenile up in the air above the car and fell to the ground, according to the probable cause statement.
After talking to witnesses, officers reportedly talked to the driver of the car, identified as Manning. She told officers that as she was approaching the intersection, she saw two bicyclists in the middle of the roadway. She said she tried to avoid hitting them but could not, according to the probable cause statement.
She reportedly hit the juvenile on the passenger side of her vehicle and, based on evidence, officers said it appeared the juvenile hit the bumper, hood, and the top corner of the passenger side of the windshield.
Officers said that while looking back inside the vehicle, they noticed a liquor bottle on the back seat and open beer cans on the back passenger floorboard, according to the probable cause statement.
Officers said they could smell “a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from her breath” as she was speaking. Officers performed field sobriety tests, which led officers to believe she was under the influence of alcohol, according to the probable cause statement.
As Manning was being booked into the Uintah County Jail, officers were notified from Primary Children’s that the juvenile was expected to pass away.
The juvenile passed away at 11:25 p.m., according to the probable cause statement.