Prosecutors on Wednesday filed a first-degree murder charge against the driver involved in a high-speed chase in the fall that ended in a fatal crash on U.S. 40 in Summit County.
Summit County Attorney’s Office prosecutors say Charles Dwight Caster, 22, is at fault in the Sept. 22 death of the passenger, Daisha Reynolds, of Salt Lake City, who was ejected from the vehicle when it crashed on U.S. 40 near the Silver Summit exit. Reynolds was 19.
According to charging documents filed in Summit County’s 3rd District Court, Caster stole the vehicle in Wasatch County and fled from law enforcement officers who were responding to reports of a vehicle burglary. He eventually drove onto westbound U.S. 40, where the Summit County Sheriff’s Office deployed spike strips in an attempt to stop the vehicle. Prosecutors say Caster swerved to avoid the strips and lost control of the vehicle, which went off the road and rolled several times.
The vehicle was traveling between 92 and 103 mph at the time of the crash, according to the documents. Caster was also ejected from the vehicle. Law enforcement officials said in September that Caster was airlifted to a Salt Lake Valley hospital in critical condition. The charging documents did not provide an update about his injuries.
Caster is also facing a second-degree felony charge of receiving or transferring a stolen motor vehicle, trailer or semi-trailer, as well as a third-degree felony count of failure to respond to an officer’s signal to stop.
The murder charge carries a possible punishment of five years to life in prison upon conviction.
A warrant for Caster’s arrest was also filed Wednesday.