ST. GEORGE — A man was arrested for suspected DUI after crashing into a convenience store on West State Street in Hurricane early Monday morning. The incident left one injured and severed a gas line that caused an evacuation of the area.
On Monday, officers were dispatched to a convenience store located near the 1100 block of West State Street shortly after 1 a.m., on a report of a three-vehicle crash. According to a police report, emergency dispatch received a call reporting that a Toyota pickup struck two vehicles in the parking lot and then crashed into the side of the building, which is where officers found the Toyota as they pulled into the parking lot.
The crash also damaged one of the store’s gas lines that resulted in gas to the building spilling out at a high rate of speed, police said.
The man driving the Toyota, 53-year-old David Delmar Mangold, III, was still trying to park the truck as gas leaked from the building. Due to safety concerns, officers pulled him out of the vehicle to get him away from the gas, the officer noted in the report.
The parking lot and immediate area were cordoned off until the leak could be contained, the officer noted in the affidavit.
While speaking to the driver, police said they could smell the odor of alcohol on Mangold. He was then handcuffed and placed in the back of a patrol vehicle while officers processed the scene.
At the time of the crash, witnesses told police that the man driving the Toyota pulled into the parking lot and “rammed” two vehicles parked in front of the store and then crashed into the side of the building. A female occupant of one of the vehicles reportedly suffered head and neck injuries resulting from the crash.
The building and the underground gas line sustained extensive damage. Emergency personnel had to dig underneath to stop the gas leak, the report states, adding that approximately a half block of pedestrians was evacuated due to the “seriousness of the gas leak.”
Mangold was transported to the Hurricane Police Department for further investigation. After reportedly failing the field sobriety test, he was given a breathalyzer that indicated a blood alcohol level of .28, which is more than 5 times the legal limit in Utah.
Mangold was arrested and booked into jail for suspected DUI and reckless driving. On Monday, the case was filed by the Washington County Attorney’s Office and the DUI charge was enhanced to a class A misdemeanor count of negligently operating a motor vehicle resulting in injury.
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.
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