SALT LAKE CITY — Investigators continue to look into whether the man driving a double-tanker that rolled during Thanksgiving weekend, shutting down the freeway for hours, was under the influence.
On Nov. 30, a semi hauling two tankers filled with butane overturned on I-15 near Lehi, blocking all lanes of traffic. The freeway was closed in both directions for nearly 10 hours as emergency crews responded to the situation.
Other motorists who were the first to assist the semi driver told police “that he seemed disoriented as they helped him get out of the truck,” according to a search warrant affidavit filed in 3rd District Court.
When investigators interviewed the man at the hospital, he “told them that he had taken Lortab earlier in the day and troopers also found Xanax pills in the truck as well,” the warrant states.
The 66-year-old man from Evanston, Wyoming, was originally charged in Lehi Justice Court with a traffic infraction. But that charge was dismissed the next day. Prosecutors noted in their motion to dismiss that they would be “refiling this case at a later date with additional charges.”