Nevada man busted for felony DUI after solo accident on North Bluff

A car is towed after its involvement in a one-car accident at 1300 N. Bluff St., St. George, Utah, Dec. 2, 2014 | Photo by Holly Coombs, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — On a rainy Tuesday night, a 53-year-old Nevada man was arrested on charges of failure to stay in one lane and driving under the influence after he wrecked his vehicle on Bluff Street.

A gray Honda SUV lays on its left side in the southbound lane at 1300 N. Bluff St. after its involvement in a one-car accident, St. St. George, Utah, Dec. 2, 2014 | Photo by Holly Coombs, St. George News
A gray Honda SUV lays on its side in the southbound lane at 1300 N. Bluff St. after being involved in a one-car accident, St. George, Utah, Dec. 2, 2014 | Photo by Holly Coombs, St. George News

At approximately 8:25 p.m. Tuesday, St. George Police Officer Jared Carlson was traveling southbound on North Bluff Street when he observed a gray Honda SUV traveling northbound with no lights on, St. George Police Sgt. Sam Despain said. At 1300 N. Bluff St., the Honda drifted to the left and hit the median, jumped the curb and then hit a streetlight, which caused the vehicle to roll onto its side.

The driver, David Lawson Trueblood, was identified by his Nevada driver’s license and was suspected to be under the influence of alcohol, Despain said.

“When I made contact with the driver, he smelled of alcohol and vomit,” Carlson wrote in a probable cause statement supporting Trueblood’s arrest. “The driver refused to perform the standardized field sobriety test but consented to a blood draw.”

David Lawson Trueblood booking photo posted Dec. 2, 2014 | Photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff's Office, St. George News
David Lawson Trueblood, booking photo posted Dec. 2, 2014 | Photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

Carlson observed that Trueblood was unable to stand on his own and had to be carried away to a patrol car, and a wheelchair had to be used to transport him once he arrived at Dixie Regional Medical Center for medical evaluation and clearance.

Trueblood admitted to drinking three beers prior to his attempt to drive home that night, according to the statement. He was later booked into the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility.

The southbound lane of North Bluff Street was closed, and traffic coming from Red Hills Parkway had to be redirected to go westbound onto Snow Canyon Parkway during the cleanup of the accident. No other cars were involved in the incident, Despain said. St. George Police and St. George Fire departments attended to the scene.

Trueblood was booked into the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility for driving under the influence of alcohol, a third-degree felony, and failure to stay in one lane, a class C misdemeanor. His bail stands at $1,750, according to court information.

His initial appearance in 5th District Court was Thursday, and he will counsel with an attorney on Dec. 15.

This report is based on preliminary information provided by law enforcement or other emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.

Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

Related posts

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2014, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

14 Comments

  • ladybugavenger December 5, 2014 at 9:43 pm

    3 beers? Pleeeeeze

    • ladybugavenger December 5, 2014 at 11:22 pm

      He must not have had extra sugar in his KOOLAID and it made him vomit

  • Why? December 5, 2014 at 10:13 pm

    Why does it take 3 days after incident to be reported?

    • Avatar photo Joyce Kuzmanic December 6, 2014 at 9:07 am

      There could be several reasons, Why. Sometimes it’s a matter of getting comment from authorities or other sources, sometimes court documents are not yet accessible to us, sometimes it takes time to pull it all together – when there’s a high profile developing incident, of course, we do those LIVE updating as the event unfolds.
      I hope that helps and appreciate the question,
      ST. GEORGE NEWS | STGnews.com
      Joyce Kuzmanic
      Editor in Chief

  • Native born New Mexican December 5, 2014 at 11:04 pm

    Why did the drunk cop from Washington county and the drunk cop from Iron county
    each with children in their vehicles and crashing city or county vehicles only get misdemeanors and $1500 fines while this man is charged with a felony? Why? why? why? I wonder if this man will spend longer than 15 days in jail. i bet he does! I also bet law enforcement is not even embarrassed by this. There really is them and the lesser people- us.

    • freaks December 6, 2014 at 8:16 am

      Heres your answer: Felony DUIs are based on prior convictions or major injury/death- not favoritism.

  • Loose screw December 6, 2014 at 12:19 am

    Okay would you believe 3 1/2 beers. LOL

  • getting flooded December 6, 2014 at 3:22 am

    I know who this guy is and he drinks like a fish!!!! This does not surprise me at all

  • FREE PARKING December 6, 2014 at 6:34 am

    Okay would you believe 3 and a half beers.?

  • Me.com December 6, 2014 at 10:24 am

    Is this David Lawson Trueblood (53) from Nevada different from the David Lawson Trueboold (53) arrested on the same day from St. George?

    • Avatar photo Cami Cox Jim December 6, 2014 at 11:57 am

      Would be the same person. Police told our reporter that he was identified by his Nevada driver’s license, so apparently the ID he’s using is Nevada issued. But you’re right — according to the info on the sheriff’s booking page they have a St. George residential address listed for him.

  • getting flooded December 6, 2014 at 4:42 pm

    He has always had a Nevada licence and a Utah residence and business licences in both places. The casinos know him well!!!

  • Koolaid December 6, 2014 at 4:55 pm

    I bet he gets a harsher sentence than that cop who was 3X over the BAC limit and with kids and weapons in a taxpayer funded truck he wrecked. Wanna bet?

    • Joseph Smith December 7, 2014 at 9:17 am

      Your are correct I wouldn’t bet against you. They are going to lock him up

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.