Kyle Shanahan car crash was his fault, 49ers coach says
Kyle Shanahan said a crash report wrongly blamed the other driver after a Palo Alto collision that left him seriously injured.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Kyle Shanahan said the Kyle Shanahan car crash that left him with several injuries was his fault, and that a public collision database wrongly placed blame on the other driver.
The San Francisco 49ers coach spoke publicly Tuesday for the first time since the July 14 crash, telling a small group of Bay Area reporters that he struck a 21-year-old woman’s SUV after taking his eyes off the road, according to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner.
Shanahan said he was driving his Tesla Model S when his phone slipped from his lap and became stuck between the seats. He said he looked down for it, and when he looked back up, the airbags hit him in the face.
According to ESPN, Shanahan said the California Highway Patrol collision report database had incorrectly assigned fault to the woman. He said the police report itself did not say that.
What happened in the Kyle Shanahan car crash?
The crash happened at 6:12 p.m. on July 14 near Alma Street and Hamilton Avenue in Palo Alto, California, according to the collision report cited by ESPN. Shanahan was heading south, while the woman was traveling north.
Shanahan said he had been coming home to Los Altos after a chiropractor appointment in Menlo Park. He said officers at the scene told him he was driving about 20 mph in a 25 mph zone, and he did not think the other driver was speeding.
Shanahan said both vehicles appeared to be moving with traffic. He said his car drifted into the other vehicle after he looked down for the phone.
The 49ers coach described the impact as violent and said the road offered little margin for error, according to ESPN.
What injuries did Kyle Shanahan suffer?
Shanahan said the crash left him with a concussion, a broken left hand, a broken nose, three broken ribs and 40 stitches above his right eye, according to ESPN.
He said he did not go to the hospital right away, instead waiting in an ambulance for his wife to arrive. He was then taken to Stanford Hospital, where he estimated he stayed for eight to 10 hours.
Shanahan has been around the 49ers in a limited capacity while recovering. He said the concussion has been the toughest part of the recovery, with fatigue still affecting him.
He said he had a better day Monday before feeling worse Tuesday. Shanahan also said he did not lose consciousness and did not have amnesia, while describing the concussion as serious.
Why did the report blame the other driver?
Jeremy Jones, the 49ers’ vice president of security, said the mismatch between Shanahan’s account and the public database was likely a clerical mistake during data entry, according to ESPN.
Jones said law enforcement completes a traffic collision report and sends it to the California crash reporting system, which is separate from the original report. He said an error can occur when information is entered for public display and record keeping.
Jones said the issue had been flagged and was expected to be corrected to show Shanahan, listed as Party No. 1 in the database, was at fault.
Shanahan said he wanted to correct the record because he did not want the woman blamed for something he did. He also said he was fortunate to have survived, that the other driver was not hurt and that he did not lose his eye, according to ESPN.
This story draws on original reporting from ESPN.com.