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By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
On Saturday, a 16-year old male from the Salt Lake area suffered fatal injuries while riding a Four Wheeler ATV at Little Sahara Sand Dunes in Juab County.
Jeremy William Bryant, 16, was riding on the Dunes with a friend and the friend's family, said Lt. Brent Pulver, Juab County Sheriff's Office Information Officer.
"He was an experienced rider," said Juab County Sheriff Alden Orme. "He had been a the Sand Dunes before."
The plan, the father of the family he was with, called for the father to ride ahead of his children and of Bryant, said Orme.
"The father would watch the dunes and would signal to his kids," he said. "The youth had been trained to slide off the dunes and not to jump them."
The father was one dune ahead of Bryant and the others were close when Bryant topped the dune. Unfortunately, he gave the ATV a little too much gas and the Four Wheeler whipped over.
The ATV Bryant was riding went over the 20-foot dune and crashed at the bottom. The teen suffered fatal injuries as a result of the crash which, most likely, broke his neck.
"He was wearing a helmet," said Orme. "The rest of the group were there immediately, the father had seen the accident, but there was nothing any of them could do."
The family was following a safety program that they practiced but the tragedy occurred at any rate.
At about 2 p.m., the Juab County Sheriff's Office responded to the Sand Mountain Area on the report of a ATV Accident, said Pulver.
"The accident is still under investigation and the victim was transported to Central Valley Medical Center in Nephi by East Juab County ambulance," said Pulver.
"After arriving at the hospital, the medical examiner's office was contacted and protocol was followed," said Orme.
The young man was a sophomore at Brighton High School and, said Orme, had just received his learner's permit. When getting his permit, Bryant became an organ donor.
"With this sport, there are going to be accidents," Pulver said. "That is unfortunate, but true."
Orme said that each year several people are seriously injured due to accidents. In addition, there is a list of people who have died over the years of injuries at the site.
"They ride over a dune, not realizing that the sand shifts and not realizing the steepness of the dune that may be on other side or how far down it might be to the bottom," Pulver said.
Former Utah congressman Bill Orton was one of those who died in an ATV accident when his machine flipped over on a sand dune at Little Sahara Recreation Area, April 18, 2009 when Orton was 60.
A Millard County sheriff's deputy, Paul Robison, 57, was also killed in 2009. He died on Saturday, May 8, 2009, in an ATV crash at the Little Sahara Sand Dunes, while riding with his wife in the Sand Mountain area when the ATV overturned and landed on top of them, pinning him between a tree and the ATV.
"We get some experienced and some inexperienced riders at the Sand Dunes," Orme said. "Many riders just don't realize the dangers."
ATV safety is a major concern to Orme. Inexperienced riders, the volume of ATVs and changing sand conditions are all factors that concern him each Easter weekend.
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