St. George Fire Department works with police and highway patrol to extract one of three injured occupants of a pickup truck that lost control on I-15 and rolled down a steep embankment, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
ST. GEORGE – A white Ford pickup slowing with southbound traffic, prior to the Bloomington exit on Interstate 15 in St. George, was rear-ended tonight causing the driver to lose control and veer off the road, rolling down the side of a steep embankment. All three people in the Ford pickup were transported to the hospital with injuries.
The accident happened sometime around 6:28 p.m., just south of the Interstate’s bridge over the Virgin River and before the Bloomington exit off-ramp at mile post 4.
When the Ford pickup slowed to take the Bloomington off-ramp, the driver of another white truck – a Nissan Frontier – did not notice that the Ford pickup had slowed, Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Lawrence Hopper said.
“The driver of the Frontier looked down, was not able to stop in time, and he hit the pickup,” Hopper said. “The impact caused the Ford pickup to veer off to the right and then it went down the embankment where it rolled onto the passenger side.”
One of the occupants of the Ford pickup had to be extracted through the front windshield of the truck. All three occupants were transported to Dixie Regional Medical Center. Their injuries did not appear to be life threatening, Hopper said.
“They are actually in pretty good shape for rolling off the freeway,” St. George Fire Department Captain Dan Cazier said.
While their injuries did not appear to be life threatening, he said, you never know as far as internal injuries go until they’ve been examined by a doctor.
The driver of the Nissan Frontier did not appear to be injured from the crash, Cazier said.
At the time of this report, no citations had been given as the accident is still under investigation.
Click on photo to enlarge, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery.
Traffic backed up on Interstate 15 southbound just before Bloomington Exit at mile 4 due to an accident involving a car that went off the highway and into the river below, St. George, Utah, Dec. 6, 2013 | Photo by Sarafina Amodt, St. George News
Damage to the Nissan Frontier that hit the Ford truck, causing it to lose control in a rollover accident on I-15, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
St. George Fire Department works with police and highway patrol to extract one of three injured occupants of a pickup truck that lost control on I-15 and rolled down a steep embankment, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
St. George Fire Department works with police and highway patrol to extract one of three injured occupants of a pickup truck that lost control on I-15 and rolled down a steep embankment, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
Rescue workers transporting an injured motorist to an ambulance after a pickup truck lost control on I-15 and rolled down a steep embankment, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
Rescue workers transporting an injured motorist to an ambulance after a pickup truck lost control on I-15 and rolled down a steep embankment, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
Rescue workers transporting an injured motorist to an ambulance after a pickup truck lost control on I-15 and rolled down a steep embankment, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
St. George Fire Department works with police and highway patrol to extract one of three injured occupants of a pickup truck that lost control on I-15 and rolled down a steep embankment, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
St. George Fire Department works with police and highway patrol to extract one of three injured occupants of a pickup truck that lost control on I-15 and rolled down a steep embankment, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
Rescue workers transporting an injured motorist to an ambulance after a pickup truck lost control on I-15 and rolled down a steep embankment, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
St. George Fire Department works with police and highway patrol to extract one of three injured occupants of a pickup truck that lost control on I-15 and rolled down a steep embankment, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
St. George Fire Department works with police and highway patrol to extract one of three injured occupants of a pickup truck that lost control on I-15 and rolled down a steep embankment, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
Aftermath of an accident that caused the driver of this truck to lose control on I-15, rolling down a steep embankment, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
Rescue workers transporting an injured motorist to an ambulance after a pickup truck lost control on I-15 and rolled down a steep embankment, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
St. George Fire Department works with police and highway patrol to extract one of three injured occupants of a pickup truck that lost control on I-15 and rolled down a steep embankment, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
St. George Fire Department works with police and highway patrol to extract one of three injured occupants of a pickup truck that lost control on I-15 and rolled down a steep embankment, St. George, Utah, Dec. 5, 2013 | Photo by Michael Flynn, St. George News
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2013, all rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Originally from Grafton, Ohio, Michael Flynn has lived in Southern Utah since 2008. Michael studied technical writing and editing at DSU and graduated with a degree in English in 2011.