SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah, Sept. 9, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — The man killed Tuesday as a result of high winds has been identified as commercial truck driver Donald Hardy.
Hardy, 61, died in South Salt Lake, according to SSLPD spokeswoman Danielle Croyle.
Croyle said Hardy had just unloaded his cargo at Industrial Injection & Turbo Service, at 2858 S. 300 West. Hardy was near his semi’s cab when the wind — at one point Tuesday measured at 112 mph — caught the door and whipped it toward him.
Croyle said she was not certain whether the door hit Hardy in the face, but she did know that he fell and hit his head on the pavement.
Hardy was transported to an area hospital with head trauma, and he was declared dead, Croyle said.
Croyle said Hardy and his wife were not from Utah, and recently had sold their belongings so they could travel together as they earned a living in the commercial truck. Hardy’s wife was in the truck’s cab at the time of the fatal accident.
According to Department of Public Safety reports, the high winds caused more than a dozen people to be injured due to flying debris or traffic accidents, but there was only one death directly tied to the gale-force winds.
