After jumping curb, SUV left teetering on embankment at McDonald’s drive-thru

ST. GEORGE — On Wednesday morning, an SUV was launched over a curb and left teetering on the side of a small embankment at a fast-food restaurant drive-thru on St. George Boulevard.

Hyundai Santa Fe teeters off a steep curb that borders the McDonald’s drive-thru, St. George, Utah, Jan. 19, 2022 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

Shortly before 8:30 a.m., officers and emergency personnel were dispatched to McDonald’s on St. George Boulevard on a single-vehicle crash involving a charcoal-colored 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe that crashed in the drive-thru area of the fast-food restaurant.

St. George Police Officer Tiffany Mitchell told St. George News that officers arrived to find the SUV perched across the curb with the front of the vehicle facing downward.

When asked, the driver reportedly said he had just ordered and was driving toward the window to pay for the meal. As he applied the brakes to slow the SUV for the sharp curve ahead, the brakes failed, he said, and the SUV was unable to make the curve and instead jumped the curb, where the rear axle became lodged against the concrete, which brought the vehicle to an abrupt stop.

“So basically he went over the curb and the vehicle became high-centered on the curbing,” Mitchell said.

The driver was shaken but uninjured, she said, adding that when officers checked the brakes they appeared to be working.

The drive-thru lane was blocked for nearly an hour while the vehicle was freed from the curb and then pulled from the embankment. With a brake failure reported, Mitchell said, the SUV was subsequently towed from the scene.

No citations were issued to the driver following the incident since the crash took place on private property, she added. No other vehicles were involved.

The St. George Police Department, St. George Fire Department and Gold Cross Ambulance responded and tended to the scene.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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