Motorcycle rider transported with critical injuries following 2-vehicle crash

ST. GEORGE — It was all hands on deck when a motorcycle rider was transported in critical condition to the hospital following a two-vehicle crash on 700 South Tuesday afternoon.

A motorcycle ends up against a pole following a two-vehicle crash involving an SUV and a motorcycle at the intersection of 700 South and 900 East, St. George, Utah, Sept. 22, 2020 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

Shortly after 1 p.m. nearly a dozen St. George Police officers and emergency personnel responded to a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of 700 South and 900 East involving a silver SUV and a motorcycle.

The rider was bleeding and unconscious when emergency responders arrived and was quickly loaded into the ambulance and transported to Dixie Regional Medical Center in “extremely critical condition,” St. George Police Sgt. Tyrell Bangerter told St. George News at the scene.

“They were doing CPR on him on the way to the hospital,” Bangerter said.

At the time of the crash, the SUV was heading west on 700 South while the motorcycle was heading east in the outside lane of the same street approaching the intersection. Just as the SUV started to turn left onto 900 East, it was struck on the rear bumper by the bike entering the intersection going straight.

The rider was thrown from the motorcycle at some point, Bangerter said, and the bike ended up against a large traffic light pole “at some point after the crash,” which will be determined once the investigation is completed, he added.

St. George Police detective photographing scene of a two-vehicle crash involving an SUV and a motorcycle at the intersection of 700 South and 900 East, St. George, Utah, Sept. 22, 2020 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

The accident reconstruction team was brought out, along with detectives, to reconstruct the crash to determine the cause of the collision. At least a dozen officers and reconstructionist spoke to witnesses and reconstructed the crash, by taking measurements and scene mapping using drone footage capable of photogrammetry, or taking aerial photographs and mapping coordinates to measure the distance between objects.

The St. George City Street Department sent out a crew to set up barriers to cordon off the scene, which allows investigators to maintain the scene until the investigation is concluded, a task that could take a few hours, Bangerter said.

The driver of the SUV was uninjured “but shaken” after the crash.

The rider was wearing a helmet at the time of the collision. Any updates on the rider’s condition were not available at the time of this report.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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