Wheel torn from pickup during 2-vehicle crash on Sunset Boulevard

ST. GEORGE — A wheel was torn from a pickup truck when two vehicles collided on Sunset Boulevard near Dixie Drive during heavy lunchtime traffic Tuesday.

St. George Fire crews arrive to remove fuel and debris from the roadway following a two-vehicle crash on Sunset Boulevard near Dixie Drive in St. George, Utah, May 24, 2022 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

Shortly after noon, officers and emergency personnel responded to what was initially reported as a rollover just west of the intersection of West Sunset Boulevard and Dixie Drive in St. George. Officers arrived to find two drivers who reported they were uninjured at the scene.

Emergency personnel found a light blue pickup truck overturned and partially blocking traffic, with the passenger side of the truck against the roadway. The pickup also was missing a wheel.

St. George Police Officer Bryan Hendrix told St. George News the crash was coded as a rollover, but it was only after they arrived that they found the truck tipped onto its side due to the imbalance created when the wheel was torn off, he said, adding the vehicle never actually rolled.

A white Chevrolet Venture van was located nearby that sustained extensive frontal damage.

Additional officers were called to the scene to divert traffic away from the scene.

At the time of the crash, Hendrix said, the pickup was exiting the parking lot adjacent to the gas station, while the van was heading east on Sunset Boulevard in the lane closest to the median.

When the pickup pulled out across both lanes of travel on Sunset heading west, it was struck by the van heading east. The impact tore the wheel from its axel on the driver’s side of the pickup, which spun and tipped on its side, while the van was left disabled nearby.

Fire crews were tasked with removing the large amount of fuel that leaked from one of the damaged gas tanks following the crash.

Witnesses told officers the van was traveling just below the speed limit when the collision took place. The driver of the pickup truck was later cited for failing to yield before entering a roadway, Hendrix said, and all occupants were properly restrained at the time of the crash.

Both vehicles were rendered inoperable following the crash and traffic was affected for nearly an hour as responders tended to the scene and cleared the roadway.

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