Rich Civic Times
GARDEN CITY, Utah. October 10, 2018. A refrigerated semi trailer weighing over 80,000 pounds carrying frozen boxes of butter careened down the Logan Road into Pugstone's at the intersection, killing the driver and critically injuring the passenger. The damage was so extensive to the building that it will have to be demolished.
The large boxes of hard frozen butter flew into the store through the walls and were like cannon balls. Darin Pugmire, the owner of the store had just left the building a few moments before the accident according to his wife Keri Pugmire.
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| Photo by Nadine Sprouse, Garden City |
Utah Highway Patrol troopers say the semi truck, driven by Ahmed M. Abdelgader, 31, of Omaha, Nebraska, was driving erratically as it entered an intersection with state Route 30 in Garden City about 6:30 p.m., Wednesday. It ran a stop sign as it attempted to turn onto SR-30, before it rolled and jackknifed into the sporting goods store.
Other witnesses said that the brakes were smoking as the semi came down the hill to Garden City.
Over the weekend, Pugmire and family moved what inventory that could be salvaged. He estimates it will take at least one year to rebuild and re open the popular sporting goods store which has been in the city for over twenty years. Garden City business owners have started a Go Fund Me site to help defray some of the initial costs. (https://www.gofundme.com/p9m5d-rebuild-pugstones-pugmires)
The semi and the building seem melted together, emergency crews and passers by worked tirelessly to extricate the two men. "There was so much blood, that everyone who helped was covered with it, said one EMT."
"If this had happened during the summer when that intersection is filled with pedestrians, cars and tourist buses the carnage would have been unimaginable," said another citizen.
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| Photos by Andy Stokes, Garden City |
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| Photo by Keri Pugmire, Garden City |
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