Tequila theft kicks off crazy afternoon for police in St. George

ST. GEORGE — A stolen bottle of tequila and motorists slowing to look at an inmate transport bus with a blown tire triggered a series of events Wednesday that ended with multiple crashes, a blocked off-ramp and a suspect who tried to just walk away from it all.

Shortly before noon, officers were dispatched to a St. George liquor store where a woman allegedly took a bottle of tequila and left the store without paying for it. Officers began searching for the woman after witnesses provided descriptions of her, including that she was wearing a green shirt and driving a dark-colored Hyundai passenger car.

At the same time, a Purgatory Correctional Facility transport bus carrying 22 inmates blew a tire and was disabled in the emergency lane of northbound I-15 near Exit 10.

Multiple deputies responded to that scene to secure the area and maintain custody of the inmates, while a second vehicle was requested to transport the inmates back to jail. Traffic slowed as motorists approached the disabled transport bus, creating a backup that stretched as far back as Exit 8.

“We send several deputies out to something like that because our main concern is security, and then finding a commercial vehicle large enough to transport 22 inmates back, that was another issue,” Washington County Sheriff’s Lt. Dave Crouse said.

Meanwhile, Utah Highway Patrol troopers were dispatched to several crashes in multiple locations between exits 8 and 10 on the northbound side of the interstate, UHP Trooper Mike Murphy said.

Troopers found “cars that were all over the place, I mean it was a mess out there,” he said.

They were initially unaware that there was a disabled jail transport bus waiting for a replacement vehicle, or that police were looking for a theft suspect in the same general area.

That all changed when Murphy responded to a crash involving a semitractor-trailer that was disabled at Exit 13 on the northbound side of I-15.

The driver told Murphy that he was heading north in heavy traffic near Exit 8 when a dark-colored passenger car, later confirmed to be a Hyundai, came up on the right side of his truck “either in the right-hand lane or in the emergency lane” and struck the rear wheels on the passenger’s side of the semi, which blew out both of the car’s tires on the driver’s side.

“As it turns out, while police are looking for this vehicle from the theft at the liquor store, the car is coming up on the right-hand side of a semi and sideswipes the semi,” Murphy said.

The semi driver told the trooper that he felt a “bump” on his trailer, and when he looked over he saw the woman continue past him and get off the interstate at Exit 10, while he continued north to Exit 13, where he was able to pull over safely and wait for police.

In the meantime, the Hyundai stopped in the middle of the Exit 10 off-ramp and the driver walked away, leaving the lanes partially blocked and creating a backup of vehicles attempting to exit the interstate.

Washington City Police officers responded and secured the scene until UHP troopers arrived.

Several witnesses alerted police to the driver’s actions as well as her direction of travel. A short time later, St. George Police officers located the woman near Batteries Plus on Red Cliffs Drive and took her into custody. The Hyundai was impounded and towed from the off-ramp.

“So we handled the accident portion of the incident while St. George PD handled the arrest for the retail theft,” Murphy said.

St. George Police Department public information officer Tiffany Atkin confirmed that a woman was arrested in connection with the theft.

She added that while officers were handling the theft call, the department also sent a number of officers to manage the road closure on North Bluff Street that was triggered by the natural gas line rupture.

Read more: Natural gas leak halts construction on North Bluff Street; police ask public to avoid the area

The St. George Police Department, Utah Highway Patrol, Washington City Police Department and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office responded and assisted with multiple scenes.

This report is based on statements from police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact. 

 

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