Victim identified in fatal semi crash in Morgan County

A semi crashed and burned in Morgan County, killing the driver, on Dec. 9, 2019. Photo: Utah DPS

MORGAN COUNTY, Dec. 10, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — The driver killed in a semi accident after his truck hit a cement barrier twice, then burned, has been identified by the Utah Department of Public Safety.

The deceased driver is 59-year-old Jimmie Grundie, of Brigham City.

Grundie was driving a 2007 International Harvester, and was traveling east at Interstate 84 Peterson overpass about a mile east of Morgan when the accident happened at about 10:25 p.m.

Peterson, who was pulling a 53-foot trailer of food products, struck a cement barrier twice, then his rig rolled onto the passenger side.

“The tractor was quickly engulfed in flames and the single occupant was unable to escape,” the DPS statement says. “The fire consumed the entire tractor unit.”

Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Brandon Whitehead told Gephardt Daily early Tuesday that both the tractor and the trailer tipped over and slid “at least a couple hundred feet.”

The fuel tank ruptured with the force of the impact, and either sparks or the heat set the entire rig on fire, he said. The victim was driving for a local trucking company, Whitehead said.

It isn’t known yet what caused the semi to leave its lane and hit the barrier. The Crash Analysis Reconstruction Team responded to the scene early Tuesday.

The Utah Highway Patrol closed the road for multiple hours for the investigation.

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