SALT LAKE CITY — One person was killed and five others were taken to hospitals Monday after a car crossed into oncoming traffic and hit a city bus head-on on Redwood Road.
The crash happened just before 2 p.m. near 1050 South, according to Salt Lake City police Sgt. Greg Wilking.
Police said the bus was traveling north on Redwood Road when a gray sedan traveling south crossed into the northbound lane and collided head-on with the bus.
The driver of the sedan, a man, died. A front-seat passenger in the car was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Four people from the bus were also taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. Police said additional passengers were treated at the scene. The bus driver was able to walk away from the crash.
Cellphone video (seen below) recorded by Ernesto Bueno, who owns a business across the street, showed first responders treating injured passengers along the side of Redwood Road in the moments after the crash.
Bueno said he heard the collision and went outside to see what had happened.
“When I hear the boom on the accident, I come out to see what’s going on,” Bueno said. “And that’s when I see all the people coming out of the bus … injured everywhere.”
Bueno also watched crews work to remove an occupant from the heavily damaged sedan.
“They had to use the Jaws of Life to get him out,” he said.
Police have not determined why the sedan crossed into the opposite lane.
“It’s too early to say why that vehicle was traveling the wrong way,” Wilking said.
Investigators also have not determined whether speed or impairment played a role. Wilking said police would review toxicology results as part of the investigation.
Police used drones to map the crash scene from above and a 360-degree scanner on the ground to help reconstruct the collision. Investigators also plan to review possible video from the bus and surveillance cameras at nearby businesses.
Redwood Road was closed in both directions for several hours while investigators processed the scene.
Bueno said the condition of the people he saw after the crash is what stayed with him.
“The people were really bad,” he said. “The injuries were really bad."
