Boy bicyclist runs red light, strikes car in West Valley City

An 11-year-old boy tried to pedal his way through a red light Thursday morning in West Valley City and collided with the side of a car.

However, West Valley police Lt. Bill Merritt said that after some initial fears for the boy's condition, he escaped with minor scrapes and bruises — and some pain in another area of his body.

"He said, 'My bottom hurts.' Other than that, he's going to be just fine," Merritt said.

Indeed, it appears it was the boy who was at fault. Witnesses told police that the boy was trying to beat the traffic signal when the accident occurred at 8:05 a.m. in the intersection of 4100 South and 4000 West.

"There was a car stopped in the northbound lane [of 4000 West] and when the light turned green the driver proceeded into the intersection. The kid, westbound [on 4100 South] went against the red light and slammed into the side of the car," Merritt said.

"The driver of the car did nothing wrong, it was just a case of out of nowhere comes this kid on a bicycle," he added.

At first, noting the boy also was not wearing a helmet, emergency responders feared he had suffered serious injury.

remims@sltrib.com