ST. GEORGE – A Utah Highway Patrol trooper said he is lucky to be alive Saturday after a recycling truck that blew a front tire and veered into the median and was stopped by the cable barrier short of hitting the trooper’s vehicle head-on.
About 7:30 a.m. Trooper Grant Hintze was driving south on Interstate 15 in St. George just before the Bluff Street exit when the left front tire on a northbound truck owned by Blake’s Auto Body and Salvage blew and the truck started to veer into the median, headed straight for Hintze’s patrol vehicle.
The cable barrier held and kept the truck from going into opposing traffic, keeping it firmly in the median.
See the video top of this report.
Hintze said the truck ripped out several stanchions holding the cable barrier in place, then traveled about 300 feet further before coming to a stop with the cable from the barrier wrapped tight against the left side of the truck. Parts of the front end fascia were ripped off the truck as it came to a stop.
“If that cable barrier hadn’t been there,” Hintze said, “I probably would have been hit head-on.”
A heavy-duty wrecker had to be called in to remove the cable from the side of the truck. A winch was used to pull the cable away while the driver moved the truck.
UHP Sgt. Larry Mower said no injuries were sustained in the mishap and no citations were issued.
This report is based on preliminary information provided by law enforcement or other emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.
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A truck blew a front tire and took out about 300 feet of cable barrier on Interstate 15 Saturday morning. St. George, Utah, July 16, 2016 | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News
A truck blew a front tire and took out about 300 feet of cable barrier on Interstate 15 Saturday morning. St. George, Utah, July 16, 2016 | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News
A truck blew a front tire and took out about 300 feet of cable barrier on Interstate 15 Saturday morning. St. George, Utah, July 16, 2016 | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News
A truck blew a front tire and took out about 300 feet of cable barrier on Interstate 15 Saturday morning. St. George, Utah, July 16, 2016 | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News
A truck blew a front tire and took out about 300 feet of cable barrier on Interstate 15 Saturday morning. St. George, Utah, July 16, 2016 | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News
A truck blew a front tire and took out about 300 feet of cable barrier on Interstate 15 Saturday morning. St. George, Utah, July 16, 2016 | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News
A truck blew a front tire and took out about 300 feet of cable barrier on Interstate 15 Saturday morning. St. George, Utah, July 16, 2016 | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
"I wrote my first word when I was very young. I enjoyed this so much I decided to write many more words."
A native of Pacific Palisades, Calif., Ric was bitten by the news bug as a staff writer and associate editor of the Palisades High School Tideline. After school he entered the media as a radio personality, both playing music and reporting news. Ric moved to St. George in the 1980s and was the morning personality on all three major AM stations in town. An avid amateur radio operator, Ric is looking for a good band to play in, as he plays keyboards, bass and guitar. Ric, who currently is working on developing a lifestyle that doesn't require his presence, lives in the center of St. George with his partner Terri, two snoring dogs and too many neurotic cats.