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WASHINGTON, Washington County — A Weber County woman was formally charged Tuesday after driving onto the closed course of an Ironman competition in Washington County over the weekend and seriously injuring two competitors who were on bicycles.
Diana Marie Linford, 68, of Farr West, is charged in 5th District Court with two counts of negligently operating a vehicle resulting in serious injury, a third-degree felony; and failing to observe a flagman, a class B misdemeanor.
Just before 11 a.m. Saturday, police say Linford drove around a flagman directing traffic at the intersection of Telegraph Street and Slow Creek Lane in Washington and onto a street closed off for the 2022 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in St. George.
"The driver stopped in the raceway where her vehicle was struck by two adult males on bikes," according to Washington police.
The first arriving officers provided first aid to the injured cyclists until paramedics could arrive.
"I helped apply a tourniquet to a patient that had a compound fracture on his right arm. I observed both patients to have serious bodily injuries," a Washington police officer wrote in a booking affidavit.
Both cyclists were taken to a local hospital. When officers questioned Linford, "it was found she had admitted to smoking marijuana" earlier that morning, the affidavit states. "Diana also admitted to having illegal narcotics in her vehicle."
According to posts on social media from people who say they know the injured men, one — who is a pastor at his church — suffered nine broken ribs, as well as a broken scapula, leg and kneecap, in addition to suffering a concussion. The other man went through Linford's back window, according to witnesses, and suffered four broken vertebrae, four broken ribs, a broken nose and a broken elbow that required surgery.
"It is a miracle that both of these men are alive! God is clearly not done with either of them. Please continue to lift them up in prayer. They both have an incredibly long road to recovery," one woman wrote on Facebook.
