Truck Off Cliff Driver Was Impaired

APACHE JUNCTION - Police say that speed and impairment were apparently factors when 31-year-old Carlie Herbert lost control and went over the edge of a cliff Tuesday morning.

At 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Herbert's truck careened off an embankment on SR 88 near Canyon Lake.

After a 2-hour rescue attempt, during which ropes, pulleys, and a medical helicopter was flown in, the Queen Creek woman was flown to Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center.

Police say it appears speed and impairment may be a factor in this collision. Witnesses told police that Herbert had been speeding just before the accident.

A seatbelt was not in use.

Preliminary information suggests she had just came around a left hand curve and continued to turn left after the road had straightened out and then she over corrected to the right, going off of the road and down the steep embankment off of the right or westbound side of the roadway. The truck did not overturn or roll.

Herbert wasn't seriously injured.