Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
DRAPER — Police said a man was killed and two people were critically injured in a mid-air collision above the Salt Lake County Flight Park on Tuesday.
Police identified the deceased paraglider as Joshua Ellison, 44, of Draper.
Initially, police said the male pilot of the hang glider was released at the scene, but on Wednesday said he had been transported to a local hospital with severe injuries.
Draper Police Lt. Mike Elkins said crews responded after 5 p.m. Tuesday on a report of the mishap.
"There had been an unfortunate mid-air collision involving a paraglider carrying two individuals and a hang glider," Elkins told KSL-TV.
According to Elkins, officers found the man and woman from the paraglider badly injured at the scene.
"He was in very poor shape," Elkins said of the man. "By the time LifeFlight landed, he had succumbed to his injuries."
Elkins said the woman was transported to Intermountain Medical Center with critical injuries.
"I know these individuals are very passionate about what they do," Elkins said. "They have a system down, so this is very unfortunate."
"My heart goes out to them," Elkins said. "I can't imagine the difficulty that the family is feeling as well as the hang gliding community here to have someone have that happen to them doing what they love."
Correction: A previous version incorrectly stated the deceased man and injured woman were hang gliding. They were paragliding.