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MOHAVE COUNTY, Ariz. — A six-vehicle crash followed by a three-vehicle crash that occurred on the Arizona stretch of southbound I-15 Friday morning left traffic backed up for miles into the evening. Though a number of vehicles were totaled in the resulting mayhem, an Arizona trooper who responded to the incident called the lack of injuries involved a "miracle."
"It was a mess, a very lucky one, too," Trooper Tom Callister of the Arizona Department of Public Safety told St. George News.
Around 10:35 a.m., an older couple was leaving Mesquite, Nevada, in a 2021 Dodge pickup truck heading north to St. George. While on northbound I-15, Callister said "the driver somehow crossed over the median and started driving northbound in the southbound lanes, and he collided with five vehicles going the wrong way."
The crash occurred in the area of milepost 12 on southbound I-15. The other vehicles included four passenger cars and one UPS semitruck. One of the cars involved in the crash was hit at least three times, Callister said, describing how it was first hit by the Dodge pickup, then the UPS semi, which pushed it into one of the other cars involved in the collective crash.
"There were a total of 15 people involved in the collision; six vehicles total," he said. "All in all, there was relatively minor injuries, and that was a miracle in itself. The most severe injury was an individual who sustained facial lacerations but refused medical treatment at the scene."
The Dodge pickup's driver, an 83-year-old man, was cited for reckless driving, Callister said.
