IRON COUNTY, Utah, Feb. 16, 2025 (Gephardt Daily) — A northbound Cadillac traveling at speeds estimated at up to 120 mph on southbound Interstate-15 early Sunday collided with multiple vehicles, and critically injured the driver.
The incident started at about 2:18 a.m. Sunday in Iron County, near milepost 81, a Utah Highway Patrol statement says.
“A trooper was in a position to actively respond and attempted to intervene with the wrong-way driver,” it says. “He located the vehicle near milepost 88.5 northbound and attempted to stop it.
“The Cadillac accelerated to approximately 90 mph,” the UHP statement said.
The wrong-way driver then swerved toward the UHP trooper, prompting him to attempt a “PIT maneuver on the wrong-way vehicle’s rear quarter panel.”
The wrong-way driver managed to avoid the maneuver and continued traveling northbound in the southbound lanes, the UHP said.
The 2006 Cadillac increased its speed to an estimated 115 to 120 mph, “before slowing back down to 90 mph.”
The Cadillac then swerved into a 2024 Freightliner semi-truck, causing a collision at milepost 98 southbound.
The UHP said the Cadillac spun off into the median and rolled, while the Freightliner crossed the median into the northbound travel lanes and came to a stop.
“A 2014 Toyota then struck the trailer of the Freightliner. As traffic came to a standstill, a 2011 Freightliner, traveling northbound in the northbound lanes, collided with the trailer of the first semi, splitting it in half.
“After this collision, the second Freightliner then impacted the rear of the Toyota. The two female occupants of the Toyota were transported by ground to an area hospital with minor injuries.”
The driver of the Cadillac was trapped and required extrication, the UHP statement says.
“Once he was removed from the vehicle, he was airlifted in critical condition. Traffic was significantly impacted, with both northbound and southbound lanes shut down for over two hours.”
Gephardt Daily will have any additional information shared by UHP.
