Semitruck driver accused of driving on I-15 shoulder without valid license

NEPHI — An Illinois woman driving a semitruck with a suspended license was arrested in Utah on Monday and charged with road rage.

Irune Alonso Heredia, 35, of Des Plaines, Illinois, was charged Tuesday in 4th District Court with reckless endangerment, a third-degree felony with a road rage penalty enhancement if convicted, along with operation of a commercial vehicle without a commercial driver's license, a class C misdemeanor.

The Utah Highway Patrol said it was "notified of a reckless driver all over the road" at about 4:50 p.m. on Monday. At least three drivers reported the semi, the charges state.

"It was reported that the semi passed a vehicle on the right shoulder on I-15," according to the charges.

A trooper spotted the semi and pulled it over near Nephi. When he approached the cab, the trooper noticed that the trailer of the semi was still on the white traffic line when it came to a stop.

"Before I could say anything to the driver ... she very angrily asked why I pulled her over," the trooper wrote in an arrest affidavit. "I explained to her that multiple people called in saying she was driving recklessly. I asked her to move her vehicle further off the highway so that we would not get hit by traffic."

The trooper discovered that Heredia's CDL license was "disqualified," according to the affidavit.

The trooper then asked Heredia if he could look at her dashcam video.

"The footage showed the driver ... getting close to the vehicle in front of her and passing on the right shoulder of the freeway while honking the horn," according to charging documents.

Heredia was placed under arrest after the trooper watched the video.

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