ST. GEORGE — A 13-year-old girl on a scooter was hit by a pickup truck on Tabernacle Street Thursday night, and the driver then fled the scene in their vehicle, police said.
But a new license plate reader camera system that became operational just recently led to the capture of a suspect later that evening.
A Dodge Ram pick-up hit the girl on the scooter, St. George Police officer Tiffany Mitchell said, at 9:38 p.m. at the corner of East Tabernacle Street and 300 East – a block north of the Dixie Sun Bowl and Legacy Elementary.
As of noon Friday, the girl was still at St. George Regional Hospital, Mitchell said, but “she will be OK.”
The license plate reader system that St. George Police has been experimenting with since December and just recently activated played a role in finding a vehicle matching a description of the one that fled the scene and a suspect.
“We were able to locate a few matching vehicles and suspect descriptions and sent officers out,” Mitchell said.
At one of the addresses, officers found a Dodge Ram pickup that matched one that had fled the crash scene.
“It had a broken headlight and broken front consistent with damage caused by hitting the girl,” Mitchell said.
Officers knocked on the door. There was no answer.
But a St. George Police officer happened to live on the same street and using the door camera it was determined the vehicle arrived back at that address about 15 minutes after the time of the crash.
The resident of the home later called police, leading to a Washington County Sheriff’s deputy pulling the suspect over and arresting him on Interstate 15. Mitchell said he passed a field sobriety test.
The suspect, 38-year-old Jason Paul Stout, was booked on charges of leaving a scene with significant bodily injury and failing to report and as of early Friday afternoon remains at Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane.
This report is based on preliminary information provided by law enforcement and may not contain the full scope of findings.
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