MURRAY, Utah — The driver who allegedly struck and injured two Utah Transit Authority employees in Murray before fleeing the scene has turned himself in. Brandon Palma, 29, could face charges of failure to remain at an accident involving serious injury, operating a vehicle without insurance, failure to register a vehicle, and driving on a denied license.
According to court documents obtained by FOX 13 News, four UTA maintenance employees had just gotten off the tracks near 5900 South and 300 West at approximately 1:30 a.m. when two of the workers went to raise the rail wheels on their vehicle. Soon, they were both hit by a white SUV while in the crosswalk.
First responders transported two of the workers to the hospital. One of them suffered a broken finger, broken tibia and fibula, broken sternum, and a contusion to the head. The other had to have a leg amputated, had a broken arm, internal injuries, and was put on a ventilator to receive oxygen.
“Our maintenance crew is literally that. They’re out there maintaining the rails, making the service better and safer and here this unfortunate situation where two of them were hit by a hit and run driver, so it’s tough. It’s a difficult day for everybody. Work family is a phrase that gets tossed around a lot, but it certainly applies here," shared UTA spokesperson Gavin Gustafson.
One of the workers, who had remained in the vehicle, witnessed the driver of the SUV, an Acura MDX, get out of the vehicle, check on the injured workers, and run away on foot.
A cell phone was found in the Acura, which investigators were able to connect to Brandon Palma. Detectives say that the description of Palma given by the witness matched identifiers returned by a statewide database search for Brandon.
Murray detectives were then able to use license plate reader data for the history on the Acura, which showed it had been parked at an apartment complex near the crash. When officers went to the apartment, they found Palma's girlfriend and her mother. They showed officers text messages from Palma's mother speaking about the crash and how he didn't want it reported.
At 12:18 p.m., Palma called detectives from his mother's phone and told officers that he wanted to turn himself in. When he turned himself in, officers took him to the hospital to be evaluated before being transported to the Salt Lake County Jail. He is being held without bail.
