ST. GEORGE – A woman was taken to the hospital after being run over and pinned under an SUV in St. George Wednesday morning.
Just after 11 a.m., emergency responders were dispatched to the IFA Country Store, located at 310 N. Industrial Road, after it was reported that a Mercury Mariner crashed into the store and ran over a woman.
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Videocast by Devan Chavez, St. George News
St. George Police and Fire units arrived on scene and found that an SUV, which had been driven by an elderly woman, had somehow traveled from the parking lot and into a walkway area outside the store. The SUV hit pallets and shopping carts along the way, sending some crashing into store windows.
A woman who had been in the immediate vicinity was struck by the SUV and partially pinned beneath it when the vehicle finally came to a stop. A shopping cart was also pinned under the SUV.
Emergency responders work to remove a shopping cart stuck under an SUV at IFA Country Store, St. George, Utah, Dec. 24, 2014 | Photo by Devan Chavez, St. George News
“We’re suspecting there (was) confusion as far as gas versus brakes,” St. George Police Sgt. Jeff Bahlmann said. “It looks like (the driver was) either pulling in or backing out and accelerated up into the walkway area.”
The woman caught under the SUV was injured but was alert and talking, Bahlmann said. The SUV wasn’t resting on top of her due to the shopping cart, which had also been pinned underneath the vehicle.
“The SUV was actually being held up by the shopping cart,” Bahlmann said. This allowed responders to get the woman out from under the vehicle without having to resort to extrication, he said.
The woman was taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center by Gold Cross Ambulance. Bahlmann was unable to confirm the extent of her injuries at the time of this publication.
“It appears that she was run over by the vehicle,” he said, “so you never know as far as internal injuries. On scene, she looked like the was doing OK, given the circumstances.”
Emergency responders work to remove a shopping cart stuck under an SUV at IFA Country Store, St. George, Utah, Dec. 24, 2014 | Photo by Devan Chavez, St. George News
The driver of the SUV was unharmed, and no one else was injured as a result of the incident.
Beyond shopping carts being thrown into windows, the IFA building appeared to have escaped any structural damage.
IFA branch manager Bryce Emett was inside the store when the incident occurred.
“We were inside the store in the back,” Emett said, “and all of a sudden, we just heard the crash and came running out.”
He and others saw the woman and shopping cart pinned under the SUV.
“I think the shopping cart’s what saved her life because it got under the car and held it up,” Emett said.
This report is based on preliminary information provided by law enforcement or other emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.
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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2014, all rights reserved.The post SUV runs over woman, crashes at IFA; STGnews Videocast appeared first on St George News.