Family, friends remember 3 killed in Tooele crash

TOOELE — Three Tooele residents who died Thursday in an accident that shut down state Route 36 were remembered Friday as a family whose time was cut too short.

"They're a new family," said Cori Allred, who used to live across the street from Kristi Westfall, her boyfriend Jacob F. Herrera and their 9-month-old son Damian. "They didn't get enough time with their son like they should have."

Allred and her husband live across the street from where the family had lived for almost a year until they moved just last month. Allred was unsure where or why the trio had moved, but she was shocked to learn about the fatal accident.

"That's not enough time to spend with a family," Allred said. "They really loved their son, you could tell."

Allred, who bounced her 4-month-old son Sawyer on her knee while reminiscing, stared out the window at the house across the street.

"I can see her out there," Allred said. "The baby was just learning to crawl. They would sit with each other letting the baby crawl back and forth between them."

Family members declined to comment Friday. Westfall's mother, Jodi Dasher, however, posted a message on her Facebook page Thursday night remembering her daughter and grandson.

"I want you all to know my beautiful daughter loved her friends and family," Dasher wrote. "But most of all, she loved her son Damian."

Investigators say Herrera was driving south on state Route 36 when his vehicle swerved across the northbound lanes and off the edge of the road about 6:45 p.m. Thursday. He then swerved right, stopping sideways in the road. The driver's side of the car was broadsided by a semitrailer. All three in the car were killed on impact.

Neither Westfall, 30, nor Herrera, 21, were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash, according to Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Troy Marx. "Although Damian was strapped into the car seat, the car seat wasn't buckled into the car."

Marx admitted, however, that with a crash of that magnitude, seat belts might not have made much of a difference.

Herrera did not have a driver's license with him at the time of the accident, Marx said. Investigators will begin checking the car to try and rule out possible causes of the accident. A black box was pulled from the semitrailer.

Toxicology reports have also been requested and will be available in a few weeks, Marx said.