WASHINGTON COUNTY – The investigation is ongoing into the cause and events incident to an SUV crash in the Warner Valley area yesterday. A coordinated effort of Washington County law enforcement and emergency responders addressed the situation yesterday after receiving a 5:15 a.m. 911 call from one female survivor. Two others were found deceased at the scene, one male and one female.
Although the Washington County Undersheriff and the department’s public information officer have not responded directly to specific inquiries St. George News has made of them, Undersheriff Bart Bailey did release an official statement yesterday evening.
According to Bailey’s statement, “it appeared that a single vehicle had gone over a cliff near Warner Valley.”
The statement also said:
“A Washington County Sheriff’s Office accident investigator is currently investigating the circumstances of the accident. Names of the surviving and deceased victims are being withheld pending identification and notifications of their families. Recovery of the accident vehicle will be coordinated through the BLM.”
Bailey’s full release and further details are included in our Sept. 22, 2011, story: Saturday morning SUV accident turns fatal in Warner Valley.
St. George News dispatched its photographer to the scene of the incident yesterday. The following three photos are offered:
THE CLIFF
THE TRACKS
THE WRECKAGE
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That’s pretty impressive. Looks like they went straight off the cliff.
Great job Dave documenting this event with the camera! Impressive photos!
Thanks. That was an uneasy one.
Dave, from your perspective, were the tracks in that middle photo the last ones made by the SUV before it went over the cliff?
Murat, if I may intervene here? Your question is valid and to some degree or another echoes those of others. I cannot allow Dave to answer that because he cannot do so without giving a subjective perspective and interpretation. And we have neither the expertise nor the perspective of that early morning to do so definitively. For example, how dark was it? We know it was a half moon but where was the moon in the sky at that hour? Dave photographed late in the day so that has to be taken into account in reviewing the evidence we present. I can tell you that we are certain these are the tracks made in the incident. But to reply whether those were the last tracks, or what other tracks left on the steep climb up to that point show, would require some personal assessment, some judgment. Therefore, I chose to present the photos without comment. What you see is what you get.