SALT LAKE CITY — One person was seriously injured in a head-on crash on Interstate 80 on the west end of Salt Lake City Monday afternoon.
"He spun out, went onto the road, then he's flying down this direction on this lane!" said a witness. "I'm watching this in real-time!"
Utah Highway Patrol officials said a Porsche Carrera was heading west on I-80 when it went off the right side of the road and crashed through a fence. Witnesses stopped to help the driver. UHP said the driver then backed up, made a U-turn and started going the wrong way.
"I thought he was stuck," said a witness. "Then he spun out, kind of made it over, sand was coming up, and he just jotted out into the road and just went down, shooting down here."
The car collided head-on with a pickup truck hauling a horse trailer. The crash occurred just east of the Great Saltair.
"Just because of the way the car was, I knew he was the most critical," said Alicia Pearce.
Pearce has been a nurse for twelve years and spent four of those working in trauma. She saw the crash and rushed to help until emergency responders got to the scene.
"Your adrenaline kicks in, your nurse skills kick in," she said.
The driver of the car was airlifted to the hospital in serious condition, according to UHP. He was reportedly breathing, but not conscious. The passenger in the truck was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
UHP officials said there were four or five animals in the trailer, and they were not injured.
Westbound I-80 was closed in the area around 3 p.m. and remained closed for over four hours.
