Angel Varreto said he was in a dance club in Salt Lake Saturday night when he received a phone call from his father. His dad told him his best friend had just died in a traffic crash a few miles outside Park City.

Varreto said Kamas resident Jose Pineda, 23, was like a brother. The 21-year-old spoke to The Park Record in a telephone interview Tuesday.

“My dad asked me, “Where are you?’ Then he asked if I was with Jose,” Varreto said. “I said, ‘No.’ Then he said that Jose had an accident.”

Varreto said he broke down in tears upon hearing the news.

“I cried all the way back to Park City,” Varreto said. “Jose was my best friend.”

The accident involved three vehicles and occurred on State Road 248 Saturday at about 8:30 p.m. Pineda was roughly five miles east of Park City when the Nissan Maxima he was driving west was struck head-on by an eastbound GMC Sierra driven by Orem resident Rick Ryan Hill, 35.

Pineda and Hill died at the scene of the accident.

Varreto said Pineda had only lived in the United States for a few years. He met Pineda about three years ago after Pineda moved to America from Mexico.

The two worked as painters in the Park City area and played together on a soccer team in the Snyderville Basin.

“He came all the way from Kamas to play in Park City,” Varreto said. “He liked it here.”

Pineda lived in the Basin before he moved to Kamas a few months ago.

Seconds after Hill collided with Pineda the truck slammed into a Honda Civic driven by Kamas resident Johnny Morales, 26. Morales’ former sister-in-law said he suffered serious injuries to his neck and back. A medical helicopter flew Morales to a hospital in Salt Lake City.

Francis resident Kim Blazquez said she met Morales about three years ago around the time she married his brother. Since then the couple have divorced but Blazquez and Morales have stayed close.

She said Morales did not lose consciousness after the vehicles collided.

“Physically, he looks a lot better than I expected after seeing pictures of his car,” Blazquez said in a telephone interview Monday. “I guess he broke his neck in one spot and his back in one spot, but the doctors said he broke it in a good way. They can do surgery and hopefully fix it.”

Blazquez said she visited Morales in the hospital.

“Johnny is lucky to be alive,” she said. “He still has movement of all his limbs and he can feel everything.”

Investigators have interviewed Morales about the crash, she said.

According to the Utah Highway Patrol, alcohol might have been a factor in the accident.

Troopers and paramedics said Hill smelled of alcohol at the scene of the crash, Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Jeff Plank said.

Damage from the truck trapped Morales inside his car, Blazquez said.

Morales told Blazquez that Pineda passed his car just before Hill came barreling into oncoming traffic.

“Johnny said his phone rang so he slowed down to take a phone call,” Blazquez said. “The guy that crossed into the oncoming traffic killed [Pineda] and then it pinned [Morales] in his Honda.”

Morales gets emotional when he talks about the accident.

“He is almost in shock. To be able to close your eyes and remember everything — I’d rather forget it,” Blazquez said.

She said she witnessed the aftermath of the crash.

“I saw the accident before I knew it was him. The highway was closed,” Blazquez said. “Later that night I got a call. It’s crazy. You don’t think it’s going to be somebody you know.”

Morales is currently unemployed, she added. He lives with his brother in Kamas.

She said Morales is not married and has no children.

“He’s a really nice guy,” Blazquez said. “If you know him, he is just one of those charismatic people. He talks to everyone, jokes with everyone. He is super friendly and has a great personality.”

Hill was employed at Property23, a real estate firm in Orem.

According to an obituary that appeared in the Daily Herald newspaper, Hill was married and had six children. He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.