[AshSimmonds]

13-year-old boy seriously injured in sports-car accident

A 13-year-old boy sustained serious head injuries and was transported by helicopter Thursday evening after his father lost control of his sports scar and crashed into oncoming traffic near 6000 East and Big Cottonwood Canyon Road.

Witnesses told police that shortly after 8:30 p.m., the man was racing his Lotus against a white Porsche when he apparently lost control.

"Witnesses reported the Lotus went around the turn and the back end slipped out, and it over corrected," said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Jake Petersen. "He just lost control."

The Lotus struck a BMW in the opposite lane head-on. The driver and passenger of that car, a husband and wife, sustained minor injuries, Petersen said. Their car, however, was damaged beyond repair.

Police extricated the child and his father with "all the tools available," Petersen said. It took nearly 30 minutes to cut the roof off the vehicle and free them.

A Life Flight helicopter flew the boy to Primary Children's Medical Center in serious condition. His father was transported by ambulance to Intermountain Medical Center, also in serious condition.

All lanes of Big Cottonwood Canyon Road were closed for more than an hour. Officers allowed traffic to resume shortly before 10 p.m., Petersen said.

At 11 p.m., police spotted a white Porsche exiting the canyon. They stopped the vehicle and interviewed the driver, Petersen said, adding that he did not believe the two drivers involved in the race knew each other.

"Police are obviously investigating the scene. They'll screen the information (the driver of the Porsche) gives them through the District Attorney's office to decide what, if any, charges should be filed," Petersen said.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705326391/13-year-old-boy-seriously-injured-in-sports-car-accident.html

[dkabab]

wonder why it took so long to remove the roof...

also.... how cool is the street name. Big Cottonwood Canyon Road....

[ACP]

wonder why it took so long to remove the roof...

Apparently the glass reinforced plastic is a lot harder to cut through than metal which is much thinner. The jaws just sort of crush it rather than slice through it and fibres still hold it together and it gets really messy with and crap flying everywhere, presumably getting in bloody wounds too!

[PA]

Don't use the jaws of life, use a cutting saw instead.

[flamestone]

Don't use the jaws of life, use a cutting saw instead.

Actually my vote goes for not crashing it in the first place.  Can't say why - just feels like the right approach.

[futurism]

im wondering what roof they cut off
if it had a hard top, they only clip on and id imagine it would fly off in any impact
other than that the windscreen surround is all there would be to cut

[ACP]

The roofs are bolted on pretty tightly with fairly hefty metal fixtures. I don't think it's so much the removal but trying to not get crap everywhere when there are injured people inside.