San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is slowly but surely bouncing back from a horrifying offseason accident.
Shanahan suffered a concussion, broken ribs and a few other injuries in a car accident on July 14. According to ESPN, the veteran coach needed 40 stitches above his right eye. As for how the accident occurred, he said he took his eyes off the road right near the interaction of Alma Street and Hamilton Avenue.
“I hit her. I don’t know why it was reported that way [on the collision report database]. The police report doesn’t say that. I was going 20 miles an hour,” Shanahan said, via ESPN. “I was not on my phone, but I dropped my phone and it was stuck in my seats. It’s on my lap and it slid off. And I went down to look for it and took my eyes off the road for two seconds. And as I was coming up, the airbags hit me in my face, and they broke my nose and then they said the visor really gashed me. … I took my eyes off the road looking for my phone, and my car veered into someone. It’s one of those roads where there’s no forgiveness. … When I hit her, the impact was just so, I’ll just never forget how violent it was.”
The Palo Alto Police Department confirmed that Shanahan was at fault for this crash.
“Kyle Shanahan’s statement that he provided is correct and that he was found at fault for the collision,” the Palo Alto Police Department said. “There was a clerical error in the preparation of the report that was transmitted to the State database. We are in the process of correcting that error. It is the officer’s discretion at the scene of the collision as to whether they issue a citation to either party. It is not uncommon for officers to elect to not issue a citation to either party involved in a collision. Neither party in this situation was provided preferential treatment.”
© Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images.
Thankfully, everyone involved in this accident is expected to be okay. In fact, Shanahan is already back at training camp coaching the 49ers.
During this Saturday's practice session, NBC Sports Bay Area shared a video of Shanahan walking around the field. While we're not sure if he'll keep it for Week 1, he's sporting a mustache this summer.
Rough offseason for the 49ers.
In just the past week alone, the 49ers have lost running back Jordan James to a rib fracture, wide receiver Christian Kirk to a calf strain, and rookie wideout De’Zhaun Stribling to a hamstring injury.
The 49ers have also placed Ricky Pearsall on season-ending injured reserve.
“You obviously are doing your due diligence,” 49ers general manager John Lynch said. “We reevaluated after [the season] and the consensus was that that wasn’t the step to take. He did well throughout the offseason, ran into some other road bumps. At that point between all the docs that we consulted … the decision was made. As [team physician] Tim [McAdams] said, it’s declared itself. And the course of action that everyone felt was appropriate was having surgery.”
If the 49ers are going to contend for a Super Bowl this upcoming season, they'll need their two-year stretch of injury misfortune to come to an end.
