Driver charged in a deadly Utah freeway crash had visited an adult website moments earlier according to police

Utah prosecutors say a driver was looking at pornography on her phone shortly before she set off a chain-reaction crash that killed a man on Interstate 15.

The charge

Christine Chao, 44, of California was charged on Tuesday with automobile homicide. Several outlets report the count stems from a June 12 wreck.

Charging documents say Chao admitted to officers that the crash was her fault. Investigators later obtained a warrant for her phone. They say it showed she had pulled up an adult website less than two minutes before the collision.

How the crash unfolded

According to the documents, Chao was traveling on I-15 when she slammed into a white sedan that had slowed for a construction zone. The impact pushed the sedan into an SUV ahead of it. All three vehicles ended up off the roadway.

The man who died

Scott LaVar Lichfield, a 66-year-old Utah man, was riding in the back seat of one of the vehicles, Salt Lake City station KSL reported. He suffered a head injury and died later.

Station ABC4 reported that Lichfield was inside the sedan that Chao's vehicle struck first.