MAGNA, Utah, May 18, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — A man who died after a head-on collision between a car and a dump truck in Magna has been identified.
Lt. Lex Bell, Unified Police Department identified Sheldon Mark Dickinson, 53, of Magna as the victim in an accident that happened just before 4 p.m. at 8400 W. 3050 South.
“What it looks like and what we’ve heard from witnesses is that we had a silver car that was northbound on 8400 West that swerved into oncoming traffic and hit a dump truck head-on,” said Bell. “That impact threw the silver car back into its lane.”
The driver of the dump truck was uninjured and Dickinson died at the scene from his injuries.
Bell said there was a witness for the last couple of blocks before the accident who said the car did appear to be swerving back and forth, then apparently drove straight in front of the dump truck.
An autopsy will be performed on the victim to establish his medical condition before the accident.
Robert Joseph Smith and his wife, Kimberlee Smith, live nearby, and ran to render aid and comfort to the victim.
“I just got home and was helping my wife unload some stuff and I heard a big crash,” Robert Joseph Smith said. “I screamed to her, get the phone, and I ran around the corner and I was the first one there. I’m a pastor, at Magna Christian Church, and I just started praying for him, just trying to bring comfort and peace to the man, and then my wife and another nurse showed up, and we tried to keep him comfortable.”
His wife, Kimberlee, did what she could.
“We ran out and I started to do what I could do to keep his airway going because he was struggling, and (my husband) was praying with him and I kept saying to him, ‘You’re going to be OK,’ and we just tried to comfort him,” she said.
“We just prayed with him and I was trying to keep his airway, and the other nurse, she’s an LDS nurse, I tried to keep the airway open and she was trying to keep his heart going. His pulse rate was fine and we thought he might have a chance.”
But the man passed away, Robert Smith said.
“You never know what’s going to happen in life,” he said. “Always be there, for those in need.”
