Driver walks away after convertible is wedged under semi in St. George

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.

Scene of the accident between 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

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.”

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

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.”

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

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