St George News
APPLE VALLEY – A head-on collision Friday afternoon in Apple Valley left eight people injured, two of them in critical condition.
Wreckage from a pileup involving several vehicles Friday, with eight people transported to the hospital with injuries. Apple Valley, Utah, Nov. 27, two thousand fifteen | Photo submitted, St. George News
The accident happened a little before two p.m. near milepost five at the intersection of state Route fifty nine and one thousand six hundred East.
The accident occurred when a Toyota Tundra pickup truck came over a ridge too swift and didn’t see two stopped cars, Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Danny Ferguson said.
A westbound gray passenger car was stopped to make a left turn onto one thousand six hundred East, Ferguson said. Two cars were stopped behind the turning car – a silver Toyota and a white Chrysler. The gray passenger car made the left-turn securely.
At that time, a crimson Toyota Tundra pickup truck westbound came up too rapid behind the cars, Ferguson said. In attempting to avoid a rear-end collision the Toyota Tundra clipped the white Chrysler in the left rear side as it turned out around the stopped cars into the eastbound lanes, and hit an eastbound Ford F-150 pickup truck almost head-on. The influence shoved the Toyota Tundra back into the westbound lanes striking the silver Toyota car.
“Right now we’re going off the assumption — which is a pretty good assumption — that the Toyota Tundra caused all of this,” Ferguson said. “I think what you’ve got is possibly speed, too prompt, just improper lookout, because he was going around these other cars, he couldn’t stop behind them so he had to go around them, so this is the aftermath of it.”
One of the occupants of the Toyota Tundra had to be transported by Life Flight helicopter to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George.
Six ambulances were called out to transport the other seven people injured in the incident. Everyone in the white Chrysler was transported by ambulance, and the occupants of both trucks were transported by ambulance as well.
Traffic was stopped in both directions for over an hour while the injured were eliminated and cleanup of the wreck took place.
“Granted, this is a 65-mph road,” Ferguson said, “but that does not mean that you can always go sixty five mph.”
Ferguson was critical of bystanders looking on at the scene of the accident.
A wrecked Ford F-150 sits along the side of state Route fifty nine after a pileup involving several vehicles Friday, with eight people transported to the hospital with injuries. Apple Valley, Utah, Nov. 27, two thousand fifteen | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News
“When I got here, we had three fire trucks, several ambulances, obviously … what truly concerns me is we had so many bystanders walking in our scene,” Ferguson said. “I know most of them appeared like they were Hildale or Colorado City (people).”
Ferguson said he didn’t have a problem with the emergency responders being on scene.
“We had so many people milling about,” he said. “People don’t understand that if somebody dies in this accident … it’s a full-fledged crime scene, and we can’t have people coming in, kicking debris, drooling in places, moving stuff around, taking stuff out of the cars.”
Ferguson said he got a little irate with some of the people doing those things — and he makes no apologies for it.
“You don’t walk through an accident scene,” Ferguson said.
This report is based on preliminary information provided by law enforcement or other emergency responders and may not contain the total scope of findings.
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Wreckage from a pileup involving several vehicles Friday, with eight people transported to the hospital with injuries. Apple Valley, Utah, Nov. 27, two thousand fifteen | Photo submitted, St. George News
Traffic backs up following a pileup involving several vehicles Friday, with eight people transported to the hospital with injuries. Apple Valley, Utah, Nov. 27, two thousand fifteen | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News
A Chrysler involved in a pileup involving several vehicles Friday, with eight people transported to the hospital with injuries. Apple Valley, Utah, Nov. 27, two thousand fifteen | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News
A wrecked Ford F-150 sits along the side of state Route fifty nine after a pileup involving several vehicles Friday, with eight people transported to the hospital with injuries. Apple Valley, Utah, Nov. 27, two thousand fifteen | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News
A wrecked Ford F-150 sits along the side of state Route fifty nine after a pileup involving several vehicles Friday, with eight people transported to the hospital with injuries. Apple Valley, Utah, Nov. 27, two thousand fifteen | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News
Dust rises from the scene of a pileup involving several vehicles Friday, with eight people transported to the hospital with injuries. Apple Valley, Utah, Nov. 27, two thousand fifteen | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News
A Toyota Tundra sits wrecked on a flatbed tow truck after a pileup involving several vehicles Friday, with eight people transported to the hospital with injuries. Apple Valley, Utah, Nov. 27, two thousand fifteen | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News
Officials look at a silver Toyota passenger car involved in a pileup involving several vehicles Friday, with eight people transported to the hospital with injuries. Apple Valley, Utah, Nov. 27, two thousand fifteen | Photo by Ric Wayman, St. George News