A transport driver in West Valley was charged on Friday with three counts of murder after allegedly failing to protect three men with disabilities. The driver left the van running in his home garage while he ate lunch and watched TV, returning hours later to find the men unresponsive.
Isaiah Vaughn Pulu, 25, of West Valley, is being charged in the Third District Court with three counts of murder for Colton Warren Moser, 25, Mosa’ati Moa, 22, and 39-year-old Tim Jones, who died in the incident. Prosecutors say the men were left unsupervised in the van for around four and a half hours. The cause of death was determined to be carbon monoxide poisoning.
On Feb. 6, Pulu picked up the men and was supposed to take them to a public space for an outing. According to Pulu, one of the passengers was being “rowdy,” so he decided to drive around for another 30-45 minutes before ultimately going home. Pulu said he was trying to use isolation as a de-escalation tactic, as he said he was trained to.
“All three victims were dependent on caretakers for their daily needs, ” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said. “We have three individuals who require constant care as wards of the state, and they need that adult supervision, and they were left alone in there.”
Pulu said he left the garage door open, the van running and the windows down. When he returned to the van, he found the garage door closed, and the men were unconscious. Firefighters responding to the scene tested the units above the garage and found carbon monoxide levels reached 600 parts per million, Gill said. Sensors should alarm if levels reach 100 parts per million over a 90-minute period.
Pulu had been reprimanded by his boss a month earlier for a similar situation where he left three other clients unattended for half an hour while they waited for transportation.
Author: Andrew Streeter
Photo: Paul Bardazzi
Editor: Hannah Clove
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