I-80 closed after fleeing suspect causes wrong-way crash near Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY — The left three lanes of I-80 Eastbound remain closed after a driver fleeing from police caused a wrong-way crash near the I-215 Interchange in Salt Lake City Saturday morning.

Utah Highway Patrol tells FOX 13 News that the incident began when Salt Lake City Police were pursuing a suspect on foot during a separate investigation. The suspect eventually got into a vehicle and fled onto the freeway.

SLCPD ended their pursuit and alerted UHP, which later located the vehicle after receiving multiple reports of a wrong-way driver on I-80. The pursuit ended around 6:00 a.m., when the suspect crashed into a second vehicle near the I-215 interchange.

Both the suspect and the other driver had to be extricated from their vehicles and were both transported by ambulance to a local hospital with "major injuries."

At time of reporting, three left lanes of I-80 remain closed as troopers conduct their crash investigation. UHP says they are currently waiting on tow trucks to arrive to the scene to clear the damaged vehicles.