Second driver charged for deaths in 2023 Eagle Mountain road rage incident

EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah (ABC4) — A second driver is being charged for the deaths of two people after a road rage incident

in June 2023.

Michael Alan Landen, 42, of Eagle Mountain, is being charged with two counts of negligent homicide, both class A misdemeanors; and reckless driving, a class B misdemeanor. According to charging documents, Landen was the driver of a white Nissan Maxima that was involved in the incident.

In June 2023, Peterson Drew Matheson (also of Eagle Mountain) was charged in connection to the incident. Matheson was the driver of the white Ford F-150, and the two victims who died — later identified as Rodney Michal Salm, 48, and Michaela Himmleberger, 47 — were in a 1987 Porche 911 Carrera.

Landen reported that Matheson’s truck was tailgating him on SR-73, documents said. Witnesses reported the white truck swerved and drove on the shoulder of the road in an attempt to pass the Maxima after unsuccessfully attempting to pass on the left.

Landen said the truck pulled up alongside him, and while the two vehicles were driving parallel to each other, the F-150 and the Maxima “made contact multiple times, resulting in damage to the sides of both vehicles,” according to documents.

Documents said neither driver slowed down, stopped, or let the other in. The truck then lost control and went onto the opposite side of the road, where the truck collided head-on with the Porsche and killed the two people inside.

An accident reconstruction report found that Landen “actively steered into the white truck” and appeared to disregard the safety of other drivers.

Landen is scheduled to make an initial appearance in Fourth District Court at the end of the month.