UPDATE:
May 26, 2023 / 2:15 PM MDT
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (ABC4) — The 15-year-old teen has been booked into a juvenile detention center on six charges.
These charges are failure to stop at the command of an officer resulting in injury, a second-degree felony; possession of a stolen vehicle, a second-degree felony; aggravated assault, a second-degree felony; hit-and-run, a class B misdemeanor; one count of driving without a license and failure to maintain control of a vehicle.
ORIGINAL STORY:
May 25, 2023 / 09:42 PM MDT
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (ABC4) — A man is dead after being hit by a 15-year-old teen who drove a stolen vehicle into a home in West Valley City. The vehicle also hit a natural gas line, causing a significant leak.
The victim has been identified as Adrian Hernandez-Rodriguez, 24. The video above shows Ring doorbell footage of the suspect’s vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed in the neighborhood followed by a loud crash. A neighbor said he still can’t believe the crash happened in his neighborhood even after seeing the damage it caused.
An officer spotted a stolen vehicle off 3100 South and Redwood Road Thursday evening and began to follow the vehicle in an unmarked car, according to Roxeanne Vainuku, deputy communications director of the West Valley City Police Department.
There was reportedly no pursuit as the officer followed the stolen vehicle, which turned into 3100 South and headed westbound. The vehicle then made a turn into a neighborhood and stopped at Lehi Drive, just east of Beaver Street, Vainuku said.
Three people exited the car, and police converged on the suspects. Seeing this, the teen driver reportedly got back into the vehicle while the two passengers fled and were ultimately taken into custody.
Police say the driver is a 15-year-old boy while the passengers are a 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl.
As the driver took off in the vehicle, it hit the tire deflation device deployed down the street. A few hundred yards later, the driver rounded a curve in the road at a high rate of speed and reportedly lost control of the wheels. The vehicle went through two fenced yards and smashed into a home near 3300 Lehi Drive, taking down a huge chunk of the front of the residence.
A 24-year-old man was standing in front of the residence and was killed by the vehicle. The man is not a resident of the home, Vainuku said.
The vehicle then continued on to another home and struck a car, at which point it was stopped and the teen was taken into custody. He was then transported to the hospital in bravo condition.
A number of houses had to be evacuated after authorities found that the vehicle had hit a natural gas line, causing a significant leak.
The vehicle was reportedly stolen out of Salt Lake City.
This is a developing story.
