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October 9, 2002
News Specialist Jill Atwood reporting.
Police today identified the boys killed last night in Big
Cottonwood Canyon after the car plunged off an embankment,
and smashed into a condominium. Police say both boys had been
in trouble with the law before.
The 18-year-old who detectives believe was driving the car
last night had just been let out of jail for auto theft. The
17-year-old had also been in and out of juvenile detention
centers.
Early this morning, deputies were back at the scene trying
to reconstruct exactly what happened. Investigators won't
speculate as to how fast the car was going when it hit a very
nasty hairpin curve, but considering the distance traveled
and the condition of the car after impact, one can only imagine.
The car's owner didn't recognize it.
"I
would never have known that that was my car had the officers
not shown up last night and told me that's what it was,"
said owner Sydney Elfervig.
Investigators believe 18-year-old Eric Scott Cameron was driving
the car. He had been in jail before and had a history of auto
theft.
His passenger was 17-year-old J.J. Clark who had also been
in trouble with the law.
The car
hit a power box and then hit the corner of the roof. You can
see the damage. Ironically this roof was just repaired yesterday
from another car that had come over the embankment two months
ago.
Solitude
residents who live along this stretch are concerned for themselves,
and others who may not be familiar with the winding roads
of this canyon.
"They say they need guardrails up here because of what's
been going on. That would have saved a life right there --
either saved a life or slowed them down," said Steve
Benton of Solitude Ski Resort.
Sydney Elfervig, who is an employee of KSL Television says
the car was stolen from the driveway of her home in Sandy
early Sunday morning.
She can't bring herself to go to the site of the accident.
The thought of two young men losing their lives in her car
is too much.
"You always think that somebody who could commit this
kind of crime, that it would come back some day to bite them.
But you never, ever, hope or wish anything like this on anyone."
UDOT says it will head up the canyon in the next couple weeks
to the site of the accident and see if guardrails are warranted.
There have been a few different accidents at that site and
residents are concerned.
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