ST. GEORGE — What initially was reported Saturday evening as a head-on crash on state Route 59 near Hildale resulted in three people taken to the hospital, including an infant, after a woman suspected of DUI reportedly crossed over into oncoming traffic and struck a vehicle head-on.
On Saturday, officers and emergency personnel were dispatched to SR-59 near milepost 4 just south of Colorado City on a head-on crash involving two vehicles that collided in the roadway shortly before 6 p.m., according to charging documents filed with the courts.
Multiple police and fire units responded to find a red GMC Envoy upside-down in the middle of the roadway, while a Buick Rendezvous sat several yards away partially blocking traffic.
Of the three occupants in the GMC Envoy, both the driver and front-seat passenger were injured, with the passenger sustaining more serious injuries, Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Cameron Roden told St. George News.
Also in the GMC was an infant who showed no visible injuries but was transported to St. George Regional Hospital for evaluation, Roden said.
“It’s hard with infants since they are nonverbal,” he said, adding that responders wanted to make sure the baby was transported as a safety precaution.
The highway was reduced to a single lane for less than an hour to allow responders to tend to the scene, while troopers conducted a crash investigation.
In the meantime, several witnesses at the scene directed officers to the woman driving the Buick who was identified as 55-year-old Kristina Gibson, who authorities say appeared to be under the influence of alcohol at the scene. Troopers also found an open bottle of wine in the center console of the vehicle.
At the time of the crash, the Buick was heading west along SR-59 out of Colorado City, while the GMC was heading east toward Kanab along the same highway
At some point, Roden said, the driver of the Buick crossed over the median into oncoming traffic, where it struck the GMC nearly head-on, causing the GMC to roll until it came to rest upside-down near the shoulder of the roadway. The Buick came to rest several yards away.
Authorities also noted that the driver, who appeared to have bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, reportedly told officers she had not been drinking.
The driver was also “argumentative and belligerent and appeared to be unwilling to cooperate with the investigation,” as well as the field sobriety test, according to the report.
Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Grant Hintze, who investigated the crash, told St. George News the call originally came in as a head-on collision, but once they completed the measurements and surveyed the damage, they determined that the Buick went into the eastbound lane and both vehicles collided on the driver’s side, which caused the GMC to roll when the driver lost control of the vehicle.
Hintze said the infant boy was approximately 6 weeks old and was found to be uninjured, which he said was likely due to the baby being properly restrained in a rear-facing car seat at the time of the crash. The infant’s mother who was sitting in the front seat at the time, sustained the more serious injuries but is making a full recovery, he siad.
Through the course of the investigation, troopers determined that Gibson’s vehicle “had crossed the center line into oncoming traffic before striking the other vehicle,” and the suspect was an alcohol-restricted driver who was driving on a canceled driver’s license.
The suspect was arrested for suspected DUI and transported to jail facing multiple misdemeanor charges, including DUI, being an alcohol-restricted driver and open container.
The report also states this is Gibson’s second DUI arrest in less than 10 years, which enhances the charge. Being that the crash resulted in injuries to at least two of the occupants in the GMC, Gibson may face more serious charges once the toxicology tests come back, Hintze added.
The Utah Highway Patrol, the Hildale-Colorado City Fire Department and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office responded and tended to the scene.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
Photo Gallery
A GMC Envoy is upside-down in the middle of state Route 59 near Hildale following two-vehicle crash in Washington County, Utah, Nov. 12, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Utah Highway Patrol, St. George News A Buick Rendezvous is heavily damaged in a two-vehicle crash on state Route 59 near Hildale in Washington County, Utah, Nov. 12, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Utah Highway Patrol, St. George News A Buick Rendezvous is heavily damaged in a two-vehicle crash on state Route 59 near Hildale in Washington County, Utah, Nov. 12, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Utah Highway Patrol, St. George News Two are injured in a GMC Envoy that is found upside-down in the middle of state Route 59 near Hildale following two-vehicle crash in Washington County, Utah, Nov. 12, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Utah Highway Patrol, St. George News 
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