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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Oct. 16, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — A man who was severely injured after driving a scooter into the back of a parked SUV in downtown Salt Lake City Saturday afternoon has died.
Salt Lake City Police Det. Robert Ungricht confirmed to Gephardt Daily Tuesday afternoon that the man has passed away although his identity has not yet been released.
SLCPD Lt. Jenn Diederich previously told Gephardt Daily the accident happened around 1:30 p.m near 400 South and 300 West, directly across the street from Pioneer Park.
Bystanders were performing CPR on the man when first responders arrived. He was rushed to the hospital by ground ambulance suffering severe head trauma.
The Honda RAV4 the man struck was heavily damaged in the crash.
Diederich said the victim, who was believed to have been in his 60s, underwent emergency surgery early Saturday evening. Police were unsure exactly when he passed away.
I was the first responder on the scene at this accident. While I didn’t witness the events that led up to the accident, I know that the man was “likely” intoxicated. He was breathing on his own until EMS arrived on the scene. CPR was not performed but the man was non-responsive and all indications pointed to a massive life threatening head trauma due to sever swelling of the right and rear right of his head. The man’s pulse stopped briefly and so did his breathing but after moving him to the CPR position he regained breathing and pulse. It saddens me to know that the man passed away. The things I witnessed after the fact are that man collided with the car that was parked, and an eye witness say him turn the street corner, right before slamming into the back of the car. I was unaware of the scooter until EMS arrived and I was shocked to see it in front of the vehicle as no bystanders moved it as I approached. Due to the sounds I heard from Pioneer park I believed the man had been backed into and or run over. I do know based on the damage to the vehicle he was traveling at a very high rate of speed when he hit the vehicle due to the sounds produced from that distance and the amount of damage done.
I am unsure if any of this even matters but I wanted to voice these details to illustrate that not all of the accidents with scooters involved down town are the same or even linked to the ones being rented.