Updated: Toyota pickup truck slams into kitchen

Written by Tracie Sullivan
September 20, 2016
A Toyota pickup truck went through a kitchen Monday evening, Cedar City, Utah, Sept. 19, 2016 |Photo by Tracie Sullivan, St. George News / Cedar City News

Update Tuesday, 12:45 p.m. Police have learned since the incident Monday night that the vehicle was stolen. Authorities are currently searching for the suspect who allegedly drove the vehicle through the apartment, Cedar City Police Sgt. Jerry Womack said.

“We have the name of a possible suspect and we are looking for him,” he said.

CEDAR CITY — The driver of a Toyota pickup truck fled the scene of a crash Monday night after the vehicle slammed into the kitchen of an apartment located on Spruce Street, authorities said.

Cedar City police and fire crews were dispatched to the scene at 851 S. Spruce Street around 9:30 p.m. Police said they did not know exactly when the crash occurred since no one was home at the time and the driver had fled the scene.

Sgt. Chet Smith said the incident is still under investigation and didn’t expect to have any answers Monday night.

“We’re just not sure what happened here,” Smith said. “We’re still trying to iron out all the details. We also need to find the driver and/or owner of the (pickup) truck. We just don’t know right now.”

At the time of the crash, apartment resident Derek Perkins was down the street at a neighbor’s house. He said he happened to wander home just a short time later and called the police.

“I was down the street at a friends,” Perkins said. “The weird thing is, I’m usually always in my kitchen. Ask anybody around here I’m usually in there and I’m kind of a hermit so I don’t usually get out but tonight I happened to be down at a friend’s place.”

By the time Perkins came upon the vehicle in the middle of his kitchen, he said, the driver was nowhere to be found.

The apartment resident however, did maintain a sense of humor, laughing and saying that he finally got a kitchen window.

“My kitchen didn’t have a window and now it does,” Perkins said.

The next door neighbor Maria Ocotl, who was home at the time, said she heard someone yell an expletive right before she heard and felt the crash through the wall.

“I heard someone yell a swear word and then I heard a crash and boom. At first, I thought maybe it was their entertainment center falling or something,” Ocotl said. “We felt the crash too in our apartment. It didn’t feel like a California earthquake. It felt like a Utah earthquake.”

There were no known injuries as a result of the incident, police said.

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

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews | @tracie_sullivan

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tracie is an award-winning investigative reporter. She has been published in several publications including the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, Spectrum and Daily News, Elan Woman, and New West. During her career, Tracie has covered various beats including education, politics, crime, courts, cops, government, lifestyle, arts and entertainment, and environmental issues. She is known for her fairness and integrity as a reporter.

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!

5 Comments

  • .... September 20, 2016 at 6:12 am

    I’m glad the refrigerator is unharmed there could of been beer and Meth in there

  • ladybugavenger September 20, 2016 at 8:09 am

    Since no one was hurt I can say that is the best ring that could happen to that kitchen

  • CaliGirl September 20, 2016 at 3:45 pm

    The driver was the year 1970… it came to take its kitchen back. Yikes! Check out the blender and the mixer. Is that harvest gold?

  • Mean Momma September 21, 2016 at 12:09 am

    Instead of making fun of his appliances, maybe we should start a fundraiser to help this hermit get a new, upgraded kitchen.

    • ladybugavenger September 23, 2016 at 11:35 am

      I’m in! #fundraiser

Leave a Reply

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