By MIKI MEEK
A BYU student’s infant son died Sunday from injuries sustained when a drunk driver collided with the student’s car on I-15 Saturday night.
Four-month-old Matthew Affleck was taken to a hospital, where he died, after the accident near 3500 South in Salt Lake City, said Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Verdi White II. His brother, Michael Affleck Jr.,2, is in rehabilitation at Primary Children’s Hospital.
Michael Affleck, the boys’ father, a student from Colorado, was driving the Honda that was struck by a silver van in the south bound lanes, White said. The driver of the van was Jesus Ramirez-Gatica, 36, of Park City. Ramirez-Gatica also caused four other accidents, he said.
The two boys had to be cut out of the demolished car, White said.
Ramirez-Gatica was booked in the Salt Lake County Jail for driving under the influence of alcohol and was charged with auto-homicide, a second degree felony in the Third District Court in Salt Lake City.
No one else was seriously injured in the crash.
In Utah in 1997 there were 88 alcohol related fatalities and 1,862 reported crashes where alcohol was identified, said John Dame of the Department of Highway Safety.
