Utah man arrested in connection to fatal Arizona wrong-way crash
Mar 26, 2018, 3:48 PM | Updated: Mar 28, 2018, 3:27 pm
(Arizona Department of Transportation photo)
(Arizona Department of Transportation photo)
PHOENIX – A Utah man has been arrested in connection to a wrong-way collision that killed three people on Saturday and shut down a major western Arizona freeway for several hours.
Arizona Department of Public Safety officials said 49-year-old Dana Michael Cavanaugh of Washington, Utah, had been booked into jail on suspicion of homicide.
They were still trying to determine if Cavanaugh was driving impaired at the time of the crash on Interstate 10 east of Quartzsite.
It was unclear Monday if Cavanaugh has an attorney yet.
The crash occurred around 11 a.m. on Saturday when two vehicles collided head-on in the westbound lanes of Interstate 10 about 31 miles east of Quartszite.
Raul Garcia, the spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, said three people — a 55-year-old woman and two 31-year-old women from Riverside, California — were killed and Cavanaugh was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The victims were later identified as 55-year-old Susan Bradbury, 31-year-old Christine Bradbury and 31-year-old Caitlin Cascella.
According to Garcia, the wrong-way vehicle appeared to have entered the westbound lanes at milepost 31.
“About 500 feet from the exit there, that ramp, that wrong-way vehicle collided head-on with another vehicle within traffic lane No. 1, or the far left lane,” Garcia told KTAR News 92.3 FM.
“Impairment has not been ruled out on the part of the wrong-way driver.”
The westbound lanes of I-10 were closed as a result of the crash, but have since been reopened.
During the closure, drivers were diverted off the highway to Vicksburg Road and the U.S. 60.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s John Roller and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
