After allegedly driving a car onto the sidewalk in downtown Salt Lake City on July 4th — killing one homeless person and injuring five others — Shutney Lee Kyzer exclaimed: ”What did I do?”
Felony charges filed Tuesday against Kyzer do not indicate why she drove a stolen Mazda 626 up over the curb near 200 South and 425 West, just around the corner from the Road Home shelter.
But it’s clear that Kyzer — a parolee — knew she was in trouble.
She fled on foot, leaving behind in the front seat of the car a female passenger, charging documents state. The passenger identified the driver as Kyzer, who was arrested the next day.
Killed in the crash was 27-year-old Kendra Griffis, who was among a group of people who had been sitting or standing on the sidewalk when the car hit them at 6:04 p.m.
Five other people suffered injuries ranging from abrasions to broken femurs, hip and leg injuries and fractured ribs, according to charging documents.
Kyzer was charged in 3rd District Court with third-degree felony counts of leaving the scene of a fatal accident and unauthorized control of a vehicle, as well as driving on the sidewalk, an infraction.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said Tuesday, “We filed the most serious charges we could, based on the evidence available to us.”
Gill noted that Kyzer was not arrested until 24 hours after the crash, so there was no blood evidence pointing to possible impairment and a potential automobile homicide charge. Nor was there evidence of Kyzer’s mental state pointing to the recklessness required for a manslaughter charge.
Kyzer, who had been paroled in April, was arrested by Corrections officers on July 5 and booked into the Salt Lake County jail on a parole violation. She was subsequently returned to the Utah State Prison, where she had been sent in 2009 on burglary, kidnapping and robbery convictions, according to court records.
Earlier on July 5, Kyzer had called her employer at The Dog Show, a dog grooming business in Sugar House, in “an emotional, frantic state saying she was out of state and her family was going to pick up her last check,” charges state.
Kyzer further stated that she had been “involved in a crash and run over six people and one of them was dead,” charges state.
Stephen Bolinder, Kyzer’s boss at The Dog Show, told The Tribune on Tuesday that he while on the telephone with Kyzer he explained he could not give her paycheck to anyone but her. Kyzer, however, insisted that someone else would come and get it.
Bolinder said police officers watched the business that day in case Kyzer came in, or sent someone who they might follow to find Kyzer, but she never arrived.
Bolinder said that Kyzer, a full-time dog groomer who was hired in April, was "good with the dogs and great with the customers."
Kyzer’s initial court appearance is set for Sept. 21. The two felony counts are each punishable by up to five years in prison.
