South Jordan woman hit, critically injured man getting out of truck, charges say

A South Jordan woman was charged Friday with negligently operating a vehicle resulting in serious injury.

A South Jordan woman was charged Friday with negligently operating a vehicle resulting in serious injury. (Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)


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MILLCREEK — A South Jordan woman is facing several charges after police say she hit a man just getting out of his vehicle, then claimed she went into a nearby bar and had three shots, which is why she had alcohol on her breath.

Starlette Hope McMullin, 21, was charged Friday in 3rd District Court with negligently operating a vehicle resulting in serious injury and damaging a patrol car, third-degree felonies; obstructing justice, a class A misdemeanor; and failing to stay in her lane, an infraction.

On March 25, Unified police were called to a crash near 4200 S. State. Investigators learned that a Toyota Corolla driven by McMullin was headed south on State Street and drifted into the shoulder. Detectives found dashboard camera video from a vehicle that showed McMullin's car "moving back into the lane barely missing vehicles parked on the side of the road. A few seconds later the Toyota drifts back over the fog line by 5 feet" and hit a man getting out of his pickup truck, according to charging documents.

The man was thrown under a truck parked in front of his, police say. McMullin is accused of traveling 46 mph at the time of impact.

Police found the man "unconscious under the rear of a 2015 Ford F-150. (He) was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. Officers were later informed that (he) was in a coma, suffered a fractured pelvis, broken back, multiple rib fractures, and would require multiple surgeries to repair the damage sustained during the crash," according to the charges.

McMullin's vehicle then hit a rear tire on the truck and spun out.

McMullin was taken by police to their Millcreek precinct for questioning. When they arrived, officers found she had shredded the foam covering the metal cage while sitting in the back seat of their patrol car, the charges state.

When questioned, McMullin claimed she "immediately" went into a nearby bar after the crash "and drank three shots," according to the charges, which she claimed accounted for the alcohol on her breath and for her showing signs of impairment when asked to complete field sobriety tests. But based on surveillance video and the bar staff, police learned she did not go to the bar.

When asked about the marijuana in her vehicle, McMullin said she smokes it to treat her seizures, the court documents say. But police say a relative told them she does not have any medical issues that require marijuana usage.

The charges also note that during field sobriety tests, McMullin had a "cavalier attitude toward the gravity of the victim's injuries, and her speech pattern showed she was impaired and unable to safely control a vehicle."

Prosecutors have requested that she be held in the Salt Lake County Jail without bail pending trial.

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Pat Reavy is a longtime police and courts reporter. He joined the KSL.com team in 2021, after many years of reporting at the Deseret News and KSL NewsRadio before that.

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