A suspected impaired driver was arrested Tuesday night in connection with a multivehicle crash in Kaysville that killed two people and injured three others.
Myron Millsap Barlow, 38, of Bluffdale, was booked into the Davis County Jail for investigation of two counts of DUI automobile homicide, three counts of DUI causing serious injury, DUI, driving with an open container in his car, and following the car in front of him too closely.
About 8:30 p.m., a load of canvas bags fell from a catering vehicle onto I-15 near Burton Lane, causing at least two other vehicles to either come to a stop or slow down, according to the Utah Highway Patrol.
Barlow, who was driving a Ford F-250, failed to stop his truck in time and smashed into the back of a Toyota Prius, which in turn was pushed into a Chevy Malibu, the UHP stated.
“The driver explained that traffic had slowed in front of him and that he quickly changed lanes and collided with the rear of another vehicle,” the arresting trooper wrote in a police booking affidavit.
A man and woman inside the Prius, which had a California license plate, were killed. Their names have not yet been released. Another man was flown by medical helicopter to a local hospital in critical condition. Two people who were in the Malibu were also taken to a local hospital by ambulance in serious conditions, according to UHP.
While talking to Barlow, the trooper could smell an odor of alcohol coming from his breath, the affidavit states.
“After speaking with the driver, troopers on scene informed me that there was an open container of alcohol in the driver’s vehicle. While I was instructing the driver, on how to fill out the crash form, I observed that he had difficulty following my instructions and I had to ask him the same question multiple times,” the trooper wrote in the report.
The south lanes of the freeway were closed for hours as emergency crews responded to the scene and conducted their investigation.
The investigation into the fatal crash is ongoing.