Driver Charged With Homicide After Utah Crash Tied to Phone Pornography

​SALT LAKE CITY — A routine highway commute turned fatal due to extreme digital distraction, prosecutors in Utah revealed. A California woman has been formally charged with automobile homicide after investigators determined she was browsing explicit content on her mobile phone seconds before triggering a violent three-car collision.

​Christine Chao, 44, of Rosemead, California, faces charges filed in connection with the June 12 tragedy along Interstate 15. According to charging documents filed by the Utah Highway Patrol, traffic had slowed to a near standstill within a designated construction zone when the crash occurred.

​Investigators state that Chao, driving a blue SUV at highway speeds, failed to notice the slowing queue and plowed directly into the rear of a white sedan. The impact compressed the vehicles in a chain reaction, driving the sedan into a second SUV ahead of it and forcing all three automobiles careening off the roadway.

​While Chao admitted fault to officers at the scene, a subsequent digital forensics search of her mobile device under a warrant revealed a grim timeline. Records showed she had accessed a pornographic website less than two minutes prior to the impact.

​The collision claimed the life of 66-year-old Scott LaVar Lichfield, who was seated in the backseat of the sedan directly struck by Chao’s vehicle. Lichfield sustained severe head trauma and succumbed to his injuries.

ADVERTISEMENT

​Remembered by loved ones as a gentle soul, Lichfield was a dedicated finance professional, a Sunday school teacher, and a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. His passing—occurring just a day after celebrating his 39th wedding anniversary—has left his family and community mourning.

​The case has reignited intense public focus on the lethal consequences of mobile phone use behind the wheel, prompting renewed calls from safety advocates for stricter enforcement against digital distractions.