OGDEN — An arrest has been made in connection with the July crash that resulted in the death of then-Lifetime Products CEO and President Richard Hendrickson and his daughter, Sally, on the highway that traverses Ogden Canyon.

Lt. Cameron Roden of the Utah Highway Patrol confirmed to the Standard-Examiner that Michael John Love of Ogden was arrested and booked into the Weber County Jail on Monday on suspicion of manslaughter, aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury and obstruction of justice. Official charges haven’t yet been filed.

Love is the owner of the Ogden-based Love Towing.

The fatal crash occurred July 6 as the Hendrickson family was traveling west on state Route 39 in an SUV pulling a boat as a tow truck hauling heavy equipment approached from the opposite direction. As the two vehicles crossed paths, the heavy equipment — reportedly a bulldozer — fell off the tow truck’s flatbed onto the SUV. Hendrickson and his daughter sustained fatal injuries while his wife and two of their other children survived the crash.

It is unclear whether Love was the driver of the tow truck that was involved in the incident.

Per a KUTV report, Love Towing was the company hauling the equipment, which a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration inspection determined was improperly secured. It was further reported that a July investigation by the FMCSA into the company found three violations:

• Failing to require a driver to prepare a record of duty status using appropriate method.
• Failing to maintain driver qualification file on each driver employed.
• Failing to implement an alcohol and/or controlled substances testing program on the date the employer begins commercial motor vehicle operations.

In the wake of the crash, Lifetime Products issued a statement referring to Hendrickson as “a visionary and a friend to many within our business and the wider community.” Meanwhile, an online petition calling for the restriction of certain vehicle types on S.R. 39 was launched, garnering more than 5,000 signatures.

More recently, the Utah Department of Transportation hosted an open house at the Ogden Valley branch of the Weber County Library in Huntsville to discuss avenues toward improving safety on S.R. 39.