JEFFREY R.

BUHMAN #7041
Utah County Attorney
JARED PERKINS #11246
Deputy Utah County Attorney
100 East Center, Suite 2100
Provo, Utah 84606
Email: dcourt@utahcounty.gov
Phone: (801) 851-8026
Fax: (801) 851-8051

IN THE FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT

UTAH COUNTY, STATE OF UTAH
STATE OF UTAH,

INFORMATION

Plaintiff,
vs.
KENNETH LEE DREW
711 N 500 W
American Fork, UT 84003
DOB: 09/17/1966
Defendant.

Case No. _________________

Judge: ___________________
OTN: 44428159

The State of Utah, by and through Jared Perkins, Deputy Utah County Attorney,
charges the defendant with the commission of the following offense:
COUNT 1: MANSLAUGHTER, a second degree felony, in violation of Utah
Code 76-5-205, in that on or about May 17, 2016, in Utah County, the defendant,
Kenneth Lee Drew, did (a) recklessly cause the death of another.
PROBABLE CAUSE STATEMENT: Bryson Lystrup of the Pleasant Grove
Police Department, having probable cause to believe that the defendant committed the
above-listed offense, submitted the following evidence in support of the filing of this
Information: Shortly after midnight on May 17, 2016, Kenneth Drew drove his
employers tow truck to Brennen and Ashleigh Bests residence in Pleasant Grove in
order to repossess their 2002 Lincoln Navigator. He was accompanied by his girlfriend,
Karen Messer. When Mr. Drew backed the tow truck up to the driveway, Brennen Best

blocked access to the Navigator by standing between the vehicles. According to Mr.
Drew, Ms. Messer, and Mr. Best, Mr. Drew and Mr. Best argued briefly about the
repossession but agreed that Mr. Best would be given time to update his payments and
show proof of that in exchange for Mr. Drew leaving the Navigator. Mr. Best told police
he then instructed Ashleigh Best to drive the Navigator to her mothers house. Mr. Drew
waited for proof of payments inside the tow truck.
Mr. Drew, Ms. Messer, and Mr. Best all told police that shortly thereafter, Mrs.
Best drove the Navigator past the tow truck on the right. At the same time, Mr. Best ran
alongside the left of the tow truck trying to place himself in front of it to prevent it from
following the Navigator, but the tow truck pulled out and pursued the Navigator before
Mr. Best could get in front of it. Mr. Drew tried to block Mrs. Bests exit from the
driveway by driving to the right, but the Navigator got around the tow truck. Mr. Drew
told police that Mrs. Best punche[d] it and sped around the front of the tow truck, and
that he stopped, allowed the lift to replace itself, and then drove down the road watching
where the Navigator went. But a neighbors security camera video shows that the tow
truck did not stop at all. It shows Mr. Drew forcing Mrs. Best to hug the curb on her right
around the cul-de-sac as he tried to box her in with his tow truck and as both vehicles
accelerated. Mrs. Best got around the tow truck and the video shows Mr. Drew speeding
after the Navigator in very close pursuit as they leave the cul-de-sac and the cameras
view. Another neighbor told police he heard raised voices outside and then a car peeling
out shortly after midnight (which contradicts Mr. Drews statement that he accelerated
quickly but did not break traction).
Mr. Drew admitted to police that he was angry at having given the Bests an
opportunity to keep their car that they used to try to get away from him. He explained that
Mrs. Best sped down the street and turned northbound onto Locust Avenue, and that he
followed her, watching where she went as she turned left (westbound) on 200 South. He
said she did not stop for a stop sign at 300 East while traveling westward on 200 South,
and he started to back off to create more distance between them. He claimed he stopped
at that intersection and then stopped again at the traffic light on 200 South and 100 East
after watching Mrs. Best turn right (northbound) onto 100 East. Mr. Drew said he
continued to follow her direction northward on 100 East, claiming that he had lost sight
of the Navigator. He estimated that his speed was 35 miles per hour as he looked for the
Navigator in driveways along 100 East. Mr. Drew claimed that, as he entered the S-curve
between Pleasant Grove cemetery and Pleasant Grove Junior High School, he suddenly
saw the Navigator in the road with its tail lights off. During repeated questioning about
the Navigators lights, Mr. Drew was adamant every time that its lights were off. He said
he turned left hard into the center emergency lane to avoid a collision and slowed down.
He claimed the Navigator got even closer to him so he veered farther left into the
oncoming lane of traffic, applying his brakes even harder. Then he claims the Navigator
collided with the tow truck, the front left side of the Navigator striking the right rear
panel of the tow truck. He claimed that Mrs. Best then accelerated past him on the right,
began to fish tail, jumped the curb to the right, and struck a tree. He claimed it all
happened so fast that he was not even sure that it was the Navigator until he checked the
license plate after the crash. He told police at least twice he immediately pulled in behind

Mrs. Best, jumped out of his truck, ran up to the Navigator, and called 911. He denied
having to slow down further down the road and making a U-turn to return to the accident
scene. The police dispatch log records Mr. Drews call to the police department (not 911)
at 12:22 am.
Police and emergency medical technicians arrived within minutes while Mr. Drew
was still on the telephone with the dispatcher. They saw the Navigator smashed into a
large tree at 650 North 100 East, facing northward. Police described the hood and engine
compartment as completely destroyed. Mr. Drew and Ms. Messer were standing near the
tow truck which was pulled off the roadway about 20 yards south of the Navigator.
Emergency responders found Mrs. Best inside the Navigator breathing but not conscious.
She was pinned into the drivers seat and her right side was crushed under the engine and
collapsed dashboard. Mrs. Best was aware enough to give her name at one point, but soon
after became unresponsive. Once extracted from the Navigator, paramedics worked to
revive her until it was apparent that she could not be resuscitated. Mrs. Best was
pronounced dead at 1:08 am. After performing an autopsy, Dr. Schrader of the Utah
Medical Examiners Office stated that the preliminary cause of Mrs. Bests death was
multiple blunt force injuries and the preliminary manner of her death was traffic accident.
(A more complete report is pending.)
There are multiple inconsistencies between Mr. Drews account and other
evidence that contradicts his version. This other evidence indicates he was chasing Mrs.
Best recklessly, and the inconsistencies in his account indicate that he was aware of
wrongdoing and trying to mitigate his liability.
As detailed above, Mr. Drews statement about the beginning of the chase makes
it seem much calmer, more considered, and safer than what is recorded on the Bests
neighbors security video. This video clearly shows Mr. Drew chasing Mrs. Best out of a
residential cul-de-sac after trying to box her in between the tow truck and the curb.
Mr. Drew claimed that he was merely following Mrs. Best to watch where she
was taking the Navigator, not chasing her. But police gathered photos and GPS data from
cameras on the tow truck that are designed to read license plates and generate
repossession reports about those cars. The first photo is time-stamped 12:14:52 am and
GPS coordinates place it only a few hundred yards down the street from the Bests
residence. It is from the tow trucks front right camera and shows Mrs. Bests vehicle was
only a very short distance off the front right bumper of the tow truck. The second photo,
from the same camera, is time-stamped 12:16:37 am and GPS coordinates place it at 125
North 100 East. This photo again shows that the Navigator was only a very short distance
away from the front right bumper of the tow truck. This evidence contradicts Mr. Drews
claim that he had lost sight of the Navigator once it turned onto 100 East, only to be
surprised by the darkened Navigator as he approached the S-curve around 400 North. It
shows instead that he was still in close pursuit of Mrs. Best at 125 North.
Mr. Drew claimed, adamantly and repeatedly, that the Navigators lights were off
when he encountered and collided with Mrs. Best on 100 East. But the Bests neighbors
security video shows that the Navigators lights were on when Mrs. Best drove it away
from her residence (a fact that Mr. Drew acknowledged to police). And after the accident,
police observed that the Navigators light switch was in the Auto position, indicating

that the lights were on at the time of Mrs. Bests impact with the tree. Mr. Drew also
claims that he saw no brake lights as Mrs. Best crashed into the tree. But the physical
evidence on the vehicles indicates that Mr. Drew would have been forward and to the left
of the Navigator and he would not have been able to see the back of it. This position was
confirmed by Ms. Messers statement that she looked over her right shoulder out the tow
trucks passenger window and saw Mrs. Best driving the Navigator shortly before the
crash.
Mr. Drew claimed that he swerved to the left of Mrs. Best when he encountered
the darkened Navigator on 100 East. But Ms. Messer told police that when they turned
onto 100 East they caught up to Mrs. Best and were driving almost parallel to her as they
entered the S-curve. She described the Navigator as being a little bit behind the tow truck,
such that Mrs. Best would have been about in line with the mid-section of the tow truck.
An accident reconstruction investigator and police observed that paint from the tow truck
transferred to the front left panel of the Navigator, and that the drivers door panel of the
Navigator had tire marks from where the tow trucks rear right tire ground against it.
They also observed that paint from the Navigator transferred to the right rear panel of the
tow truck. Their preliminary conclusion is that this damage is not consistent with Mr.
Drews description of a bump between the vehicles, but rather indicates that they were
traveling in contact with each other for some time. Police and the accident
reconstructionist also observed a long tire skid mark that runs several hundred feet in the
shoulder of 100 East, east of the northbound fog line. They concluded, preliminarily, that
it resulted from the right rear tow truck tire locking up as it ground against the
Navigators door. The trajectory of this skid is straight from the fog line to the curb and
toward the tree into which the Navigator crashed. This reconstruction contradicts Mr.
Drews statement that he swerved out into the center emergency and oncoming
southbound lanes. Instead, it shows that as 100 East curves gradually to the right, Mr.
Drew drove the tow truck straight to pin Mrs. Best against the curb on the right. When
she did not stop, the Navigator jumped the curb and hit the tree. Furthermore, there was
no evidence that the Navigator fish-tailed as Mr. Drew described. Where Mr. Drew and
the accident reconstructionist agree is that the Navigator was going faster than 50 miles
per hour when Mrs. Best hit the tree. This indicates a high rate of speed when they
collided and ground against each other.
Mr. Drew also claimed that when the accident occurred he was braking and had
slowed nearly to a stop. He said multiple times that he pulled in behind Mrs. Best
immediately, and he denied turning around to return to the crash. But Ms. Messer told
police that they continued on 100 East and turned into Pleasant Grove Junior High
Schools parking lot to turn around, go back south, and turn around again behind the
Navigator. This is confirmed by surveillance video from the junior high school that
shows the tow truck turning around in the parking lot within minutes of Mr. Drews
emergency call to police. Moreover, this is consistent with the tow truck traveling at high
speed along with the Navigator before the crash, and then slowing down on 100 East
immediately north of the crash site.
Ms. Messer repeatedly described this incident as a chase and admitted she was
scared. Mr. Drew himself described Ms. Messer as helping him watch for Mrs. Best

initially, but then growing really quiet as she got more nervous and anxious during the
pursuit. Ms. Messer told police that if she were observing this incident as a bystander she
would say both vehicles needed to slow down and that they were driving recklessly.
While Ms. Messer described the Navigators lights as being dark, she also indicated that
Mr. Drew told her that. At one point she said that Mr. Drew was too close to the
Navigator but then quickly changed her statement to they were too close. She said she
was scared during this incident and repeatedly wondered why they were even chasing
Mrs. Best. She said further that she was unsure of whether Mr. Drew ran Mrs. Best off
the road purposefully.
When Detective Lystrup confronted Mr. Drew with the physical evidence and the
inconsistencies with his version, Mr. Drew conceded that he may have been using his
truck to try to stop Mrs. Best, to try to bring the whole thing to an end. He also backtracked on his first account and said that he did not really remember details about how the
crash happened.
Police discussed this incident with Mr. Drews employer who told them that it is
clear company policy never to chase anyone who tries to avoid a repossession. He
described regular trainings on company policies and said that Mr. Drew would have been
well aware of that rule. It was also against company policy for Ms. Messer to be with Mr.
Drew on a repossession call.
Based upon evidence received from Bryson Lystrup of the Pleasant Grove Police
Department, I have reason to believe the defendant committed the offense as charged
herein.
Authorized for presentment and filing this 24th day of May, 2016.
UTAH COUNTY ATTORNEYS OFFICE

/s/ Jared Perkins

JARED PERKINS
Deputy Utah County Attorney