SOUTH SALT LAKE -- For the third time in a week a suspected drunken driver caused a fatal accident. The Sunday accident brought the week's fatalities to five. A total of eight people have died in alcohol-related accidents in the valley since Jan. 1.
The latest deaths -- those of two South Salt Lake women hit when a drunken driver ran a red light -- came just hours after a candlelight vigil for a 20-year-old University of Utah student killed a week ago by another driver who also ran a red light and is suspected of being drunk."Everybody always tries to tell people not to drink and drive, but people still do it, and the drunk driver never gets hurt," Amy Anderton said at the 7 p.m. vigil for Benjamin Kent Olds, who was killed at the intersection of 1700 South and 700 East.
The Utah Legislature is considering four bills that increase penalties and other consequences of driving under the influence.
Sunday's fatal accident took the lives of Mary Ann Zierold, 52, and Kenna Cook, 41, both of South Salt Lake.
The accident occurred at 1:52 a.m. when a westbound vehicle, driven by David Trentman, 22, allegedly ran a red light at the intersection of 3300 South and 300 East and plowed into Zierold's car, South Salt Lake information officer Darin Sweeten said.
Zierold died at the scene, but Cook was taken by medical helicopter to LDS Hospital where she survived initial surgery but died late Sunday.
Trentman was treated at St. Mark's Hospital for minor injuries and was later booked into Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of automobile homicide, Sweeten said. Trentman's vehicle was traveling 25 mph above the posted 35 mph speed limit, and alcohol is suspected to be a contributing factor in the wreck, Sweeten said.
In Olds' death, Israel Ledesma Patrida, 26, has been booked into the Salt Lake County Jail, for investigation of automobile homicide, after allegedly driving his pickup truck through a red light and smashing into Olds' Honda Prelude.
Patrida fled the scene but was later found and arrested. He has not yet been charged.
And West Valley City had a similar accident at 2:30 a.m. Saturday, when a suspected drunken driver in a pickup truck plowed into a jeep parked at a red light, at the intersection of 3200 West and 3500 South. The force of the collision forced both vehicles to flip and split open the jeep's gas tank, causing it to ignite. One teenage boy was hospitalized and two others died, one trapped inside the burning vehicle, West Valley Police Sgt. John Rasmussen said.
The driver of the pickup fled on foot but was later arrested and has been booked into the county jail for investigation of automobile homicide.
"I think there should be stronger penalties against drunk drivers," said Joshua Williamson, a former co-worker of Olds who attended the Sunday vigil. "If you kill someone drunk driving you should be killed, too."
Despite those feelings of anger, much of the vigil was spent in fond memory of Olds.
Olds was a large man who moved to Utah from Louisiana two years ago. He had spent time at various jobs and had planned to take a full schedule of classes -- including Kung-Fu -- at the University of Utah this semester.
After a short stint as an ice-cream man, Olds worked delivering pizzas. At that job he earned the nickname "Bo" (after Bo from the Dukes of Hazard) because the door on his Prelude was stuck so he would always enter and exit from the window, Williamson said.
"It was funny because he was so big and he had such a little car," Williamson said.
Olds' best friend, Candace Wolslegei, said Olds loved to read and the two would often spend time talking at coffee shops and restaurants.
"A lot of the time, we would just drive around and make fun of the songs we heard on the radio," she said.
Olds loved creative writing and was an avid guitar player. His car, which he bought for $500, was always messy, filled with clothes, compact discs and especially books.
"He was really smart, the smartest person I know," Wolslegei said. "He could've really been something. He just didn't have the chance to."
Olds' friends placed a wreath with his picture in the middle on a chain link fence near the intersection. Posters around the wreath stated, "Please don't drink and drive," and "We love and miss you Ben!"