One Man Dead, Multiple Injured In Salt Lake Rollover Crash
Feb 25, 2020, 6:46 AM | Updated: 9:25 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – One man died and several others were taken to the hospital after a van carrying 11 airport construction workers collided with a car just west of the Salt Lake International Airport and rolled.
The incident occurred around 6:15 a.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Wright Brothers Drive and Amelia Earhart Drive, west of the airport.
Officials said the workers were all employees of Engineered Wall Systems, a metal construction company based in South Salt Lake.
BREAKING: 1 dead, 5 taken to hospitals in various conditions after a passenger van was involved in a crash with another vehicle on Wright Brothers Drive and Amelia Earhart Drive, in SLC. Van rolled, debris everywhere. 5 other passengers remain on scene, a total of 11 in the van. pic.twitter.com/MkxVlE9X8i
— Shara Park (@KSLSharaPark) February 25, 2020
The president of the company, John Pickford, said 45-year-old Eric Salazar died in the crash.
Several people inside the van had to be extricated by fire personnel, said Sgt. Keith Horrocks with the Salt Lake City Police Department
Officers said 10 other workers were transported to six different local hospitals to be treated for their injuries. Four of them were still hospitalized as of Tuesday afternoon.
Pickford said he’s very thankful for the first responders who provided aide to his workers at the scene. He said the company is working to take care of the needs of all its employees.
“All of our employees have a great sense of pride being involved in this great project, and this accident is a huge blow to us,” Pickford said in a company email. “Our thoughts and prayers are for the individual who died in the auto accident, and those that were injured along with their families and loved ones.”
Salt Lake International Airport officials said the construction workers park near that intersection and take the company van over to the airport where they’re working to install copper-colored metal cladding on the new terminal.
Investigators spent the morning reconstructing the crash. They believe the van was headed towards the interstate on Wright Brothers Drive when it collided with the car and rolled. They said they’re unsure how many times it rolled.
“It’s hard to say, but you can see the distance between the intersection where the van is that I would imagine that it had to have rolled at least a few times,” said Horrocks.
Investigators said they’re trying to determine whether the car was turning or crossing the intersection.
“We’re still putting that all together,” said Horrocks. “You can see our investigators behind me, are looking… trying to put together skid marks, things like that, and that’s going to take them several hours to put together.”
Police said this investigation will take some time because of the size and scope of the crash.
