ST. GEORGE — Authorities are investigating a crash that killed a Cedar City woman when her vehicle was struck by a semitractor-trailer that drifted into oncoming traffic, plunging both vehicles and more than 160 pigs off a 100-foot embankment in Beaver County Thursday night.
Jaime DeMille, 41, who was driving a Kia Ultima, suffered fatal injuries upon impact and was pronounced dead at the scene, the Utah Highway Patrol said Friday in a statement.
The driver and co-driver of the semi were taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life threatening.
The crash was reported on Interstate 15 northbound near mile marker 125 just north of the city of Beaver at about 11:30 p.m., the statement says.
The semi was heading north and began to drift to the left for an unknown reason before crossing the median into oncoming traffic where it struck the Kia and continued forward before sending both vehicles down the embankment.
A majority of the pigs were “severely injured or killed during the collision and subsequent roll-over,” while a few of the animals came away unscathed.
Troopers are investigating illness/fatigue as a possible contributing factor, according to the statement.
This report is based on statements from police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.
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Sincere condolences to the family.
(Note to the editor: There’s no such thing as a Kia “Ultima”. There’s a Nissan Altima and a Kia Optima)
Well, the point is that someone should make an ULTIMA of some sort. Because it’s just the shortened spelling of ULTIMATE, So it would be the very best, right? Or, I guess, possibly it’s the shortened spelling of ULTIMATUM. In which case it might be questionable. What kind of car would be a Chevy Ultimatum I wonder? Or maybe it would be a Fiat Chrysler ULTIMATUM.