Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Michael John Love is charged with manslaughter and accused of improperly securing a bulldozer.
- The bulldozer slid off Love's tow truck, killing two people and injuring three.
- Court documents state Love attempted to alter evidence at the crash scene.
OGDEN — An Ogden man has been charged with manslaughter and is accused of improperly securing a bulldozer on his tow truck, leading to it sliding off and killing two people.
Michael John Love, 51, was arrested on Oct. 28 in connection with a deadly canyon crash in July. He was charged Oct. 23 with two counts of manslaughter and one count of aggravated assault resulting in bodily injury, second-degree felonies; obstruction of justice, a third-degree felony, and obstruction of justice, a class A misdemeanor.
Love is a tow-truck operator and owns Love's Towing, according to court documents.
A police booking affidavit said Love was driving a truck and towing a 32,000-pound bulldozer, which was about 4,300 pounds over the maximum allowed weight for the tow truck. Investigators said the bulldozer was secured by one small chain on the back and a "tow-hook winch" on the front.
"This method of securing the dozer was wholly inadequate for retaining the weight of the dozer in place. The approximate weight, at maximum, these points of contact would have secured, would have been about 5,000 pounds at best," court documents state.
The bulldozer also had metal tracks and was on a metal flatbed of the truck, which would reduce friction and would have kept the heavy load in place, police said.
While Love was driving up Ogden Canyon on July 6, the bulldozer slid to the left while Love was negotiating a curve and broke free of its chain and tow cable, court documents state. The dozer then landed on top of an SUV traveling in the other direction, killing two people and injuring three others.
While medical personnel were attending to the crash victims, Love was seen near the storage compartment of the truck and told a Weber County deputy he was moving chains, court documents state. The deputy told Love to leave everything where it was as it was part of a crime scene and under investigation, the documents state.
In an interview, Love claimed his vehicle never left the travel lane and was struck near the rear, causing the dozer to break free and fall onto the vehicle, police said. Investigators determined through reconstruction of the crash that neither car left its lane of travel, and witnesses of the crash independently gave statements that said neither car left its lane or hit the other.
Investigators also determined there was no impact to cause the bulldozer to fall from the back of the truck bed.
Love told police the dozer was secured with two chains on the back, two on the front, "one over the bucket" and an additional hook from the tow chain, the police affidavit said. He drew a diagram indicating where the chains were and said the height of the bed on the vehicle combined with the weight of the bulldozer made it unstable. Love also told police he had verified the security of the load the night before and believed the bulldozer only weighed 22,000 pounds and the tow truck was of poor quality, according to court documents.
"This information was false, and Michael Love knew this information was false," the charges state.
Surveillance footage from a gas station just minutes prior to the crash shows Love filling up his vehicle and the bulldozer with gasoline. In the footage, the bulldozer is "clearly visible" and secured by only one "winch cable" hook at the front and a single chain across the back and middle.
"As reconstruction experts have determined, this placement would only allow one-half the load rating of the chain, which was 5,000 pounds, or essentially 2,500 pounds of securing restraints for a 32,000-pound vehicle," court documents state.
Police said Love was altering evidence at the scene by moving chains to make it appear the load was properly secured and provided false information about the security of the load and how many chains were used.
"The fact that some of Michael Love's first actions after the crash were to attempt to place more chains into the scene to indicate the bulldozer was secured properly, demonstrates that he knew the bulldozer was not properly secured. His conduct demonstrates that he was aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the bulldozer was too heavy and could break loose and fall off his truck. He then proceeded up a winding canyon with this improperly chained 32,000-pound bulldozer creating a grave risk of death," the police booking affidavit states.
