ST. GEORGE — The driver of a convertible sedan was able to walk away uninjured despite his car wedging under the trailer of a turning semitractor-trailer Friday night a block from St. George Shuttle.
The accident blocked the eastbound side of Red Hills Parkway at the corner with 1400 East for around an hour and a half.
Officers led by St. George Police, with an assist from the Utah Highway Patrol, were called out at approximately 8:40 p.m. to the incident in which the metallic blue Honda S2000 with a rear spoiler and black stripes was flattened under the trailer. Black skid marks stretched for about 25 yards behind the wedged convertible.
The two-seater had only the male driver as a passenger. And despite the damage that looked to make the car a total loss, the driver of the convertible and the sole male driver of the semi were uninjured.
When St. George Officer Antonio Brown came upon the site, his first thoughts went to how bad it could be.
“My first thought was ‘Oh my goodness who’s hurt? … Was there anybody else in the vehicle?'” Brown said. “Luckily, no one was injured, and there was no one left in the vehicle to fit underneath the truck. All in all, this is the best-case scenario for something like this.”
Brown said the Honda was traveling east on Red Hills Parkway as the truck was turning left on to 1400 East.
As for what exactly happened to get the convertible under the trailer, Brown is letting the ticket he wrote speak for itself.
“I don’t want to say that they caused the crash, but I will say that they were cited for speeding,” said Brown, who didn’t reveal the suspected speed the Honda was traveling at the time of the crash. “One driver was cited for speeding, so that kind of answers your question there.”
A tow truck freed the flattened Honda from under the trailer around 9 p.m., but it wouldn’t be for another hour before the scene could be cleared and the eastbound side of the parkway was opened up again.
“They were so very, very, very, very lucky that they are uninjured and walking away from this. I mean, not even a scratch on him,” Brown said. “There’s very little of the car left, but the car is replaceable, but the humans are a whole different story.”
Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery.
Scene of the accident between a Honda convertible that ended up wedged under a semitractor-trailer, St. George, Utah, April 3, 2020 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Scene of the accident between a Honda convertible that ended up wedged under a semitractor-trailer, St. George, Utah, April 3, 2020 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Skids in the road lead up to a Honda convertible that ended up wedged under a semitractor-trailer April 3, 2020 in St. George, Utah. | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Skids in the road lead up to a Honda convertible that ended up wedged under a semitractor-trailer April 3, 2020 in St. George, Utah. | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Scene of the accident between a Honda convertible that ended up wedged under a semitractor-trailer, St. George, Utah, April 3, 2020 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Scene of the accident between a Honda convertible that ended up wedged under a semitractor-trailer, St. George, Utah, April 3, 2020 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Scene of the accident between a Honda convertible that ended up wedged under a semitractor-trailer, St. George, Utah, April 3, 2020 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Scene of the accident between a Honda convertible that ended up wedged under a semitractor-trailer, St. George, Utah, April 3, 2020 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Scene of the accident between a Honda convertible that ended up wedged under a semitractor-trailer, St. George, Utah, April 3, 2020 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Scene of the accident between a Honda convertible that ended up wedged under a semitractor-trailer, St. George, Utah, April 3, 2020 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Scene of the accident between a Honda convertible that ended up wedged under a semitractor-trailer, St. George, Utah, April 3, 2020 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Scene of the accident between a Honda convertible that ended up wedged under a semitractor-trailer, St. George, Utah, April 3, 2020 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Scene of the accident between a Honda convertible that ended up wedged under a semitractor-trailer, St. George, Utah, April 3, 2020 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Scene of the accident between a Honda convertible that ended up wedged under a semitractor-trailer, St. George, Utah, April 3, 2020 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Damage to the trailer after a Honda convertible that ended up wedged under a semitractor-trailer April 3, 2020 in St. George, Utah. | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Reed serves as a reporter for St. George News, where he has been honored with several awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for his work, including first-place accolades. He started his journalism career as a sports reporter and editor in Southern California where he once compared shoe sizes with Shaquille O'Neal and exchanged mix tapes with members of the Los Angeles Kings. After growing up in the San Fernando Valley learning karate skills from Mr. Miyagi and spending a decade in Las Vegas mostly avoiding the casinos, he came to St. George for love and married his soulmate, a lifetime Southern Utah resident. He is the proud father of two boys, his youngest a champion against both autism and Type 1 diabetes.