5-car pileup injures 4, Life Flight transports 1

A five-car pileup in Hurricane Thursday afternoon injures four people, one critically. A 4-year-old child involved in the accident was uninjured, Hurricane, Utah, July 7, 2016 | Photo by Julie Applegate, St. George News.
A five-car pileup in Hurricane Thursday afternoon injures four people, one critically. A 4-year-old child involved in the accident was uninjured, Hurricane, Utah, July 7, 2016 | Photo by Julie Applegate, St. George News.

HURRICANE – A five-car pileup in Hurricane Thursday afternoon left one man critically injured and three others transported to the hospital.

A 4-year-old child involved in the crash was uninjured.

Officers and medical units were dispatched a little after 3 p.m. to the area of 2650 West State Street on a report of a rollover crash involving multiple vehicles.

When first responders arrived on the scene they found one vehicle had rolled and there were still patients in their vehicles.

Extrication equipment was requested; one person was partially ejected from the vehicle.

All details of the crash are not yet known, Hurricane Police Sgt. Brandon Buell said, and the investigation is ongoing.

A five-car pileup in Hurricane Thursday afternoon injures four people, one critically. A 4-year-old child involved in the accident was uninjured, Hurricane, Utah, July 7, 2016 | Photo by Mike Cole, St. George News.
A five-car pileup in Hurricane Thursday afternoon injures four people, one critically. A 4-year-old child involved in the crash was uninjured, Hurricane, Utah, July 7, 2016 | Photo by Mike Cole, St. George News.

“What we do know is the Suzuki, the black Suzuki was traveling westbound, approaching the area of the crash,” Buell said.

“For some unknown reason …the  vehicle crossed the center line, came into the eastbound travel lane and hit head-on with the Chevy Suburban,” Buell said. The impact caused the Suzuki to roll.

The black 2003 Suzuki Vitara was driven by a 19-year-old man.

“He was wearing a seat belt, he was injured. He was partially ejected from the vehicle; Life Flight was called due to the severity of the injuries,” Buell said. The man was transported to Dixie Regional Medical Center in critical condition.

The 37-year-old female driver of the Suburban tried to avoid the crash by swerving to the left, which caused the majority of the impact to hit on the Suburban’s front passenger side.

The driver of the Suburban had to be extricated from the vehicle; she was transported by ambulance to the hospital in serious condition.

“Also in (the Suburban) was a 4-year-old male passenger that was properly restrained and was not injured,” Buell said.

A blue 2007 Hyundai Elantra driven by a 65-year-old man was traveling eastbound behind the Suburban and somehow ended up sideways next to the Suburban, Buell said.

A five-car pileup in Hurricane Thursday afternoon injures four people, one critically. A 4-year-old child involved in the accident was uninjured, Hurricane, Utah, July 7, 2016 | Photo by Julie Applegate, St. George News.
A five-car pileup in Hurricane Thursday afternoon injures four people, one critically. A 4-year-old child involved in the crash was uninjured, Hurricane, Utah, July 7, 2016 | Photo by Julie Applegate, St. George News.

The Hyundai was struck on the passenger side by a silver 2003 Chrysler Town and Country minivan. The driver of the Hyundai was injured and was transported to the hospital in stable condition.

The 73-year-old male driver of the Chrysler was not injured, Buell said, however a 71-year-old female passenger was injured and was transported to the hospital in stable condition.

A white 2006 Ford Escape traveling eastbound behind the Suburban and Hyundai tried to stop but could not, Buell said, and hit the passenger side of the Suburban.

The 51-year-old female driver of the Ford sustained minor injuries and refused medical transport.

All drivers and passengers were wearing seat belts, Buell said.

The entire eastbound traffic lanes were blocked by the crash. Police diverted traffic onto 3400 West for approximately 40 minutes. Traffic was impacted for about an hour while emergency crews cleared the scene.

All five vehicles had to be towed from the scene. The multi-car crash is still under investigation and no citations have been issued as this report is published.

Hurricane City Police Department, Hurricane Valley Fire District, Intermountain Life Flight, Utah Highway Patrol, Utah Department of Transportation and Hurricane City Streets Department responded to the crash.

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

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, 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!

1 Comment

  • Bob July 8, 2016 at 2:37 pm

    that’s a nasty one. had no idea a suburban would bend like that

Leave a Reply

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