Salt Lake police look into fatal crash

Salt Lake City police continued Monday their independent investigation into Friday's fatal crash in which a pedestrian was killed and a driver critically injured after a man police say was fleeing from a trooper ran a red light and smashed into another vehicle.

The Utah Highway Patrol said it would also conduct an internal review of the incident. But the UHP is confident the trooper did nothing wrong. The trooper was not even placed on administrative leave and was eligible to report to duty Monday, said UHP trooper Jeff Nigbur.

"There's no reason to (place him on administrative leave). We've gone over the facts of the case. We've seen the (dashboard camera) video," he said.

More details of the crash were revealed Monday.

Donald Lee Snyder, 36, was driving erratically Friday about 7:30 p.m. near 1750 S. State Street, Nigbur said. A UHP trooper who noticed the pickup truck began following but did not have on his lights and siren.

The pickup truck made an abrupt turn into the parking lot of Panda Restaurant, 1701 S. State apparently in an attempt to avoid the trooper, Nigbur said. The trooper followed the truck into the parking lot. At that time, the pickup flipped around and sped out of the parking lot, he said.

"(The trooper) is not even asking him to pull over," Nigbur said. "The guy just bolts. He didn't even stop at all. We didn't know what was going on."

The trooper at that time turned on his lights and siren, but waited for traffic to clear before pulling out of the parking lot and then cautiously waited for traffic to clear at the intersection of 1700 South and State before continuing after the truck, Nigbur said.

Just as the trooper turned onto 1700 South, Snyder ran a red light at Main Street and crashed into a Porsche driven by 36-year-old Douglas Butcher, Nigbur said. The impact from the crash threw Snyder's truck onto the sidewalk where it hit and killed 49-year-old Knut Odland.

Butcher remained in critical condition Monday at University Hospital.

Snyder had a sawed-off shotgun in the stolen truck with him and numerous rounds of ammunition, Nigbur said. He was booked into jail for investigation of criminal homicide, causing an accident while fleeing from police, possession of a weapon by a restricted person and possession of a stolen vehicle. All are second-degree felonies. He was also wanted for parole violation out of Virginia.

The total time from when the trooper turned on his lights and siren until the time Snyder crashed was just 18 seconds, Nigbur said. There wasn't even a chance for the trooper to declare he was in a chase. The trooper's top speed while following the pickup truck was estimated to be between 20 to 30 mph, Nigbur said.

Even though it wasn't a pursuit, Nigbur said an incident review board would look into the accident.

Nigbur said the department sends its deepest sympathies to the victims and their families.

A check of court records shows Snyder has an extensive criminal history in Utah including convictions for drug possession, simple assault and forgery.

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