One dead, two seriously injured in separate ATV accidents at Fivemile Pass

MERCUR, Tooele County  —  Emergency crews have been busy over the weekend with two back-to-back critical all-terrain vehicle rollovers on Saturday and Sunday.  The first of the ATV accidents occurred Saturday night, reported Sgt. David Bleazard of the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office, with a 25-year-old male driver crashing on his vehicle.

He was killed after the vehicle rolled near Fivemile Pass on state Route 73.

“At 7 p.m. last night, the 25-year-old male driver, with a passenger also in his 20s, rolled their ATV,” Bleazard said. “The driver was pronounced dead on-scene and the passenger was flown to a Salt Lake City area hospital in critical condition.”

There were no immediate signs of speed or impairment, according to Bleazard, but the investigation has not yet been completed. The driver’s identity was not released as of late Sunday.

Tooele County saw its second of the ATV accidents on Sunday, where a woman in her 30s suffered serious injuries when the UTV she was driving took a corner too sharply. It then rolled over at nearly the exact same spot at Fivemile Pass around 12:30 p.m.

Bureau of Land Management officer Matt Gochis said the driver was ejected, suffered serious injuries to her head and arms and was air-lifted to the hospital in critical condition.

Three other women, all in their 30s, were also on the UTV at the time of the rollover, Gochis said, with one of them being transported by ambulance to the hospital. The other two suffered only bruises and did not seek medical attention.

Gochis said about 2,000 people were recreating in the area on Sunday.

“It was very busy,” he said. “So drive with caution and don’t take risks you might normally take.”