Kyle Shanahan Takes Responsibility for Car Crash

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan stated he was at fault for the car accident that resulted in serious injuries two weeks prior. Speaking publicly for the first time since the crash, Shanahan spent around 30 minutes with Bay Area reporters discussing a California Highway Patrol collision report, which he claimed incorrectly assigned blame to a 21-year-old woman involved in the incident. "I hit her," Shanahan stated on Tuesday. "I don't know why it was reported that way [on the collision report database]. The police report doesn't say that."

Shanahan detailed the events leading up to and through the collision between his Tesla Model S and the other driver’s SUV, an accident that left him with a concussion, a broken left hand, a broken nose, three broken ribs, and 40 stitches above his right eye. "I was going 20 miles an hour," Shanahan recalled. "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."

Shanahan described the road conditions as unforgiving between Alma Street and Hamilton Avenue in Palo Alto, where the collision occurred at 6:12 p.m. on July 14. He noted that both vehicles were navigating the traffic flow; he was returning home to Los Altos from a chiropractor appointment in Menlo Park when the accident took place. Officers at the scene estimated he was going about 20 mph in a 25 mph zone, and he expressed the belief that the other driver was also adhering to the speed limit.

Following the crash, Shanahan did not go to the hospital immediately, waiting in the ambulance for his wife prior to being transported. He spent approximately eight to 10 hours at Stanford Hospital post-accident and has been around the 49ers on a limited basis as he recovers, dealing with persistent fatigue while he manages his concussion recovery. Lt. Nicolas Martinez of the Palo Alto Police Department confirmed Shanahan's account and indicated that he was indeed at fault, citing a clerical error in the preparation of the initial report. Martinez added, "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."

While Shanahan is recovering well, he has not established a timeline for his full return to coaching duties. He emphasized the severity of his concussion but noted he experience neither amnesia nor loss of consciousness during the incident. Most significantly, Shanahan expressed the desire to ensure that the woman involved in the crash was not wrongfully blamed. "It just crushed me hearing the girl get blamed for it," he mentioned, expressing gratitude that he survived the crash without more severe consequences.