National Park Service ranger injured in crash near Vernal

VERNAL — A National Park Service law enforcement ranger was injured Thursday when his truck rolled down an embankment east of the Uintah County Landfill.

The ranger was driving near the intersection of Brush Creek and Diamond Mountain roads about noon when his truck traveled off the right side of the road, said Uintah County Sheriff's Cpl. Dustin Cheshire. The ranger then overcorrected, and his truck rolled 1½ times down an embankment, coming to rest on its roof, Cheshire said.

Witnesses told deputies the ranger, who works at nearby Dinosaur National Monument, was able to climb out of the damaged truck on his own. He escaped serious injury, Cheshire said, because he was wearing a seat belt.

"You could obviously see that he was lucky," the corporal said. "That seat belt saved his life."

Noel Mays, a ranger at Dinosaur National Monument, said the injured ranger was treated at Ashley Regional Medical Center in Vernal and released. Mays referred all additional questions about the ranger and the crash to assistant chief ranger Kathy Krisco, who was not available for comment Thursday night.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, Cheshire said. The ranger's name has not been released.

— Geoff Liesik

Twitter: GeoffLiesik