SALT LAKE CITY — They called it “No cop, no stop.”
A small group of teenagers in Millard County were playing a game in which they would film themselves running stop signs while driving. But the “game” resulted in a serious crash and at least two teens now face a number of charges.
Regardless of whether the juveniles were simply trying to have fun, Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Nick Street said the dangerous game was putting lives at risk.
The investigation began Feb. 25 when UHP troopers responded to a crash in Delta at a four-way intersection, 2500 South and 1000 East.
“The driver of vehicle No. 1 failed to stop at the stop sign, went through the intersection and struck vehicle No. 2,” a search warrant affidavit states.
The force of the collision caused the second vehicle to roll and a 62-year-old driver was ejected, according to the affidavit. The first vehicle that ran the stop sign came to rest in a field.
A 16-year-old boy was driving the car that ran the stop sign and a 17-year-old boy was in the passenger seat.
The 62-year-old man was flown by medical helicopter to a local hospital in critical condition, and the 17-year-old was also taken by helicopter to “a trauma hospital,” according to the affidavit.
The 16-year-old was interviewed and claimed he did not see the stop sign until the last minute, but a trooper noted during that investigation that he “did not see any skid marks prior to the stop sign,” according to the warrant.
Three days later, a Millard County sheriff's deputy contacted troopers to inform them he had been investigating a group of teens in the Delta area “who play a game of running stop signs in vehicles and filming it on their cellphones,” the affidavit states.
Street said the game was called “No cop, no stop.”
Prior to the crash, sheriff’s deputies had received complaints from residents in the area about speeding, prompting extra patrols.
The deputy showed troopers a video he obtained that was uploaded to Snapchat involving the 17-year-old passenger who was injured. In the video, the boy is driving and appears “to intentionally drive through stop signs without stopping,” according to the affidavit.
On March 5, when troopers attempted to interview the 62-year-old who was injured, they talked to his adult daughter who “performed life saving measures” on her father that night. She also said that two weeks before that crash, she was nearly hit by the same 16-year-old at the same intersection after he ran the stop sign, according to the warrant.
A relative told her about the “stop sign challenge.”
“(She) indicated that teenagers play this game in an attempt to run as many stop signs as they can as fast as they can,” investigators wrote.
Street said the UHP plans to meet with the Millard County Attorney’s Office to consider potential criminal charges that could include criminal negligence.
“Stop signs exist to force people to make a proper lookout before proceeding through an intersection or onto a thoroughfare. Without looking left and right along with a good visual confirmation that another vehicle, pedestrian or a cyclist is not proceeding along your intended path, you are putting lives in danger,” Street said.