ENOCH — A driver was critically injured after reportedly fleeing from police and rolling his vehicle on a residential street in Enoch Tuesday night.
Enoch Police Chief Jackson Ames said the incident occurred shortly before 8 p.m. and involved an adult male driving an older model Ford Explorer.
“At 7:47 last night, an Enoch officer witnessed an individual drive through a stop sign,” Ames told Cedar City News. “Upon seeing that, he initiated his overhead lights and attempted to initiate a traffic stop.”
Instead of pulling over, however, the man sped away, Ames said.
“The driver was traveling at a very high rate of speed in a residential area. Within about a minute, he was traveling east on Stagecoach Lane, and there’s a bend in the road. He didn’t make the turn of the bend and ended up rolling his vehicle and crashing,” he said.
Ames said the officer who was following the vehicle “backed off because the guy was going so fast and because it was in a residential area.”
After the Explorer rolled it ended up crashing into a large tree and a nearby flatbed trailer with a small fishing boat on it. The trailer, which sustained heavy damage, was parked alongside a chain-link fence along the north side of Stagecoach Lane, a short distance west of where that road ends at its intersection with Pioneer Drive.
The Explorer’s driver, who was the only occupant of the vehicle, was extricated by rescue personnel and flown from the scene by an Intermountain Life Flight helicopter to the hospital.
“Last I heard, he was still in critical condition,” Andes said. “It’s a very unfortunate situation.”
The incident is still under investigation, he said, adding that everything unfolded quickly.
“It wasn’t very far between where it started and where it ended,” the chief said. “I’m still reviewing all the footage and everything, but from start to finish, it was literally about a minute or less.”
In addition to Enoch City Police, personnel from Utah Highway Patrol, Iron County Sheriff’s Office, Cedar City Fire Department and Gold Cross Ambulance also responded to the scene.
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