Two seriously injured after Tesla plunges down steep hill into Salt Lake’s Memory Grove Park

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 16, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — A man and a woman in a Tesla driving west on 11th Avenue suffered traumatic injuries Wednesday night when the car plunged down the steep incline into Memory Grove Park.

The accident happened at about 10:30 p.m., Battalion Chief Dan Walker, Salt Lake City Fire Department, told Gephardt Daily. The car came to rest at least two-thirds of the way down the steep hill, he said.

Walker confirmed the car was a Tesla, but said it is unknown whether it was in self-driving mode at the time of the accident.

Salt Lake City Police Lt. Dave Cracroft confirmed “the car was going very fast” when it crashed through a guard rail and then rolled several times.

Cracroft said the unnamed male driver, born in 1984, was “touch and go” at a nearby hospital.

Rescuers originally feared there might be a third victim due to an additional pair of shoes found at the scene, but determined the shoes had been in a box in the vehicle.

A Department of Public Safety helicopter also searched the scene with a heat-detecting camera, which would have shown a third body if one were on the scene, Walker said.

Gephardt Daily will have additional details on the accident as the investigation continues.