MAGNA, Utah, July 13, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — Police in Magna are investigating an early morning crash that left a driver in extremely critical condition and a family looking for a new home.
Lt. Manfred Lassig, watch commander for Unified Police, told Gephardt Daily the accident happened about 1:56 a.m., when a man driving a blue Dodge Durango attempted to pass another vehicle near 3500 South, 7300 West.
The driver lost control of the SUV, which rolled several times before slamming into a house on the east side of the street.
Yenifer Pasay was inside the home at the time of the accident. She said she was in a basement room with other family members when they heard the crash and saw the ceiling start to collapse.
Pasay grabbed her pet, rounded up siblings and ran from the home. She said she was stunned to realize the Durango had crashed through the wall and into the house, including bedroom.
“I was terrified,” Pasay said. “My family was in there, my little siblings are in there and to me that was scary. I love my siblings to death!”
Pasay said when firefighters entered her bedroom she could hear the driver groaning. She said he then spoke to his rescuers, telling them that he was OK.
Unified Fire Battalion Chief Lee Ascarte, said the driver was anything but OK. The chief said the man had been partially ejected during the crash and was bleeding heavily. He was also pinned inside the SUV.
“He knocked the house off its foundation,” Ascarte said. “The whole house shifted about a foot and created a challenging technical rescue.”
After about 40 minutes, combined efforts of firefighters from UFA, Taylorsville, West Valley City and Magna freed the driver. He was then flown by medical helicopter to Intermountain Medical Center with life threatening injuries.
Ascarte said the home had to be “red tagged” due to the intense structural damage, meaning it is uninhabitable.
The family, in the meantime, is being provided temporary shelter.
Gephardt Daily will update the story as more information becomes available.
