ST. GEORGE — A driver was arrested for DUI following a two-vehicle crash Thursday evening on northbound Interstate 15 near the Beaver Dam-Littlefield exit in Arizona. A third vehicle was also impacted on the southbound side of the interstate.
Just before 6:30 p.m., emergency dispatch began receiving multiple calls reporting that two vehicles crashed on northbound I-15 near mile marker 7, just south of the Beaver Dam exit, and emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene.
The crash involved a red GMC Arcadia towing a small utility trailer and a white 2016 Cadillac CTS. Troopers found the GMC in the median with the rear section of the vehicle completely destroyed, while the Cadillac was found several yards away. The GMC’s trailer had detached and ended up near the Cadillac.
Beaver Dam-Littlefield Fire Captain Debbie Gates told St. George News they arrived to find four occupants in the GMC — two adults and two small children, ages 3 and 5 — who sustained minor injuries and were treated at the scene by an emergency medical crew but declined transport to the hospital. The 19-year-old driver of the Cadillac told EMTs he was not injured.
Gates also said that a semitractor-trailer driver, along with a number of other motorists that witnessed the crash, stopped to check on all occupants to make sure they were okay.
Arizona Department of Public Safety Trooper Thomas Callister said that at the time of the crash, the Cadillac was heading north at “a very high rate of speed” and swerving in and out of traffic for several miles, according to multiple witnesses.
The driver passed a semi in the left lane and in doing so, struck the GMC from behind.
The impact ripped the trailer from the GMC and tore one of the wheels from the axle as the trailer went spinning to the left. The GMC spun off the right shoulder while the Cadillac spun around and came to rest in the median, followed by the trailer that smashed against the Cadillac’s front end.
Troopers also discovered a third vehicle disabled on the southbound side of the interstate with the undercarriage completely destroyed. As it turned out, when the wheel separated from the trailer it was hurled over the median and was struck by a southbound Hyndai Tucson. The wheel destroyed the undercarriage and ripped the radiator away from the SUV.
“That radiator was left hanging, literally hanging from the vehicle,” Callister said.
The impact with the wheel sent the Hyundai careening off the roadway where it came to rest on the shoulder without striking any other vehicles.
Meanwhile, troopers working the northbound side spoke to the Cadillac driver and detected signs of alcohol impairment.
“He appeared very, very intoxicated, in fact,” Callister said, adding that a breathalyzer administered at the scene showed the driver was “well over” the legal limit for alcohol in Arizona. A blood draw was also taken, the results of which will not be available for several days.
The 19-year-old was arrested and transported to Mohave County Detention Center in Kingman, Arizona, facing one misdemeanor count of extreme DUI, along with five felony counts of endangerment – charges related to the four occupants in the GMC, as well as the southbound motorist who was also impacted by the incident.
Callister said that fortunately, no one was seriously injured in the crash and all involved “were extremely lucky,” adding the outcome could have been very different.
The trooper went on to say that the damage to the Cadillac was consistent with what they would find in a head-on collision, and the impact crushed the rear section of the GMC to where the bumper nearly touched the rear passenger seats.
“We’re talking extreme speeds here considering that both vehicles were traveling in the same direction,” he said.
The fact the GMC was pulling a trailer, he said, is likely what saved the lives of the two small children who were riding in the middle seat behind their parents.
“Luckily they had that trailer which absorbed much of the force upon impact,” he said. “Otherwise the SUV would have taken the full brunt, and that type of impact would have been devastating on those children.”
Callister also said there have been several fatal crashes that were caused by wheels becoming separated from a vehicle.
“When you look at everything that happened out here in a matter of seconds, and then to have only minor injuries — that is pretty incredible.”
Traffic was reduced into a single lane that ran through the middle of the scene, while southbound traffic was unaffected. The Arizona Department of Public Safety, Mohave County Sheriff’s Office and the Arizona Department of Transportation responded and tended to the scene. Beaver Dam-Littlefield Fire and Ambulance responded with an engine and three ambulances.
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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