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- Ivan Saavedra Gomez, 26, was arrested for an alleged hit-and-run incident with a pedestrian.
- Gomez is accused of running over a pedestrian on a bicycle in South Salt Lake.
- The victim, developmentally disabled, faces a lengthy recovery and possible lifelong effects, police say.
SOUTH SALT LAKE — A man was arrested Tuesday after police say he drove a large pickup and trailer over a curb while making a turn, ran over a pedestrian and then drove off.
Ivan Saavedra Gomez, 26, of Magna, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Tuesday and charged on Wednesday in 3rd District Court with failing to remain at the scene of an accident involving serious injury, a third-degree felony; and failing to stay in his lane, an infraction.
South Salt Lake police were called to 3300 S. Main on Jan. 29.
"The victim was found lying on the northwest corner sidewalk with injuries to his lower legs/feet. Two witnesses saw the accident," a police booking affidavit states. "Both witnesses report the driver cutting the corner too closely while turning westbound on 3300 South and running over the victim, who was stationary on his bicycle … well back from the roadway."
Charging documents further state that after the 51-year-old man was hit, the truck "dragged him and the bike a significant distance."
Saavedra was driving a full-size pickup and hauling a large enclosed trailer. But both witnesses "stated there is no way a driver can have their trailer go that far over the curb, then run over a bike and a person and not feel that they ran over something. Both state the driver ... had to have known something or someone was run over," the affidavit alleges. "Both felt strongly the driver knew and left anyway and stated if there was any question what was run over, a driver must pull over and check. They said if the driver said they didn't know, they were lying."
The responding officer, who is a "trained commercial truck driver" and is used to driving long-haul tractor-trailers, concurred, based on his experience, that "the driver of the truck knew what he did," the affidavit says.
Using traffic cameras, police identified the pickup and confirmed it was leased to a transport company at the time of the incident. The owner of the company was contacted and told investigators that Saavedra was driving the trailer back to the shop at the time.
When contacted, Saavedra claimed he didn't know he hit anything and refused to give either police or his company a statement, according to the affidavit.
Police noted that the victim "is developmentally disabled" and that he has at least a 12-week recovery period for an injury to his foot.
"The victim is not mobile and will need to learn to walk again after the 12-week period has passed. Gaining the ability to walk again is anticipated to be a lengthy process, where falling is considered a certainty with a possibility of additional injuries because of the fall. The victim may never regain stability in his foot and may suffer symptoms the rest of his life," the arresting officer wrote.
