Auto accident kills Vernal woman, 71, in wheelchair

VERNAL — Sharon Robinson's friends said they often warned her against riding her motorized wheelchair at night to a nearby convenience store. But on Tuesday night, just like almost every night before, her elderly husband sent her on an errand to buy him something from the store.

So the 71-year-old woman sat her small mixed-breed terrier on her lap, left her condominium complex in the center of Vernal and was on her way just after 7 p.m.

Robinson, whose wheelchair was equipped with a small red flasher for safety, had almost made it across the street on her way home from the store when she was struck and killed by a driver who allegedly ignored the stop sign.

Investigators allege the accident happened because Timothy J. Carlile, 40, had been drinking.

"There were no skid marks ... the point of impact to the point of where he parked his truck was 400 feet," said Vernal Police Chief Gary Jensen. "He drug the wheelchair for quite a ways. He had completely driven over it."

The victim's body was thrown nearly 20 feet and landed in the middle of the street on 900 South near the Vernal Post Office; her wheelchair was scattered in pieces for about 200 feet. Jensen said it appears that she died on impact. Her dog survived but ran off, returning later to go to her owner's body, which was draped with a sheet.

Carlile faces a third-degree felony charge for automobile homicide and a class B misdemeanor for DUI, as well as an open container violation. The Vernal man was given a Breathalyzer test, but Jensen declined to release the results. Police said they found an open container of beer in Carlile's pickup truck, along with closed containers.

He bailed out of jail Wednesday morning on $11,080 bond.

According to court records, Carlile has had a handful of traffic-related violations beginning in 1989 with a misdemeanor DUI, which was later reduced to alcohol-related reckless driving. Until Tuesday night, Carlile's most recent run-in with the law was in 1996 for speeding.

Reached at his home, Carlile said he could not comment without his attorney. He declined to say if he had obtained legal counsel.