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SALT LAKE COUNTY -- The driver of a semi truck involved in a fiery crash Wednesday morning survived with serious injuries. Authorities credit a few brave people for pulling him out of the wreckage.
We were just like, 'We need to get him out of the car now!' We grabbed him and pulled him out, got him back away, then everything burst into flames on the semi.
–Theodore Killinger
Drivers on I-215 couldn't look away. In fact, many took pictures and video of this intense crash.
According to the Utah Highway Patrol, an elderly male driving a red Camry was going the wrong way on the freeway. At 9:45, near 2300 East, the small car collided with a semi truck.
"Suddenly I saw the semi get hit and bust into flames and smoke," says witness Theodore Killinger.
Killinger saw the accident from the other side of the freeway. He immediately pulled over and ran across traffic lanes, then jumped over the median toward the wreckage.
He and a few others saw that the semi truck driver was still in his cab.
Related:
Westbound I-215 lanes reopen following fatal morning crash
A car heading the wrong way on westbound Interstate 215 crashed into a semi truck just after Knudsen's Corner, killing car's the driver."This flaming gas trail is coming towards the diesel truck that's all covered in diesel everywhere," Killinger said. "So we hurried, and we were just trying to make sure the semi driver was OK, and we were just like, 'We need to get him out of the car now!' We grabbed him and pulled him out, got him back away, then everything burst into flames on the semi."
Killinger and a few others checked on the small car, only to see the man had already passed. His car was slowly catching on fire, so some people with extinguishers tried to put it out.
Meanwhile, the truck driver was in shock.
"He didn't know what was going on. He couldn't even talk," Killinger said. "We moved him over. Head to toe, [he was] covered in dirt and dust, all his clothes and face. You could just see his white little eyes wide open from shock."
Killinger stayed until emergency crews arrived. He says he's just happy he was able to help.
"If we hadn't been there, the truck driver could have burned up," Killinger said. Definitely to save somebody's life, to put a little risk of my own, it's no big deal. It's what anybody would do."
The semi truck driver is recovering at Intermountain Medical Center. He suffered a punctured lung and a head laceration in the crash.
E-mail: ngonzales@ksl.com
