SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH — A father of four who has driven for Saia Trucking for nearly a decade is paralyzed and fighting for his life after being pinned between two big rigs in the company yard on August 19, and his family says the hardest part after the physical injuries has been the near-total silence from the company he devoted years of his life to.
Shawn Peterson was preparing for a shift at the Salt Lake City facility — checking his trailer and getting ready to head out — when another driver apparently began backing into the same spot. Peterson’s father-in-law, Jeff Fuller, described what happened next.
“Happened in a millisecond,” Fuller said. “Shawn realized there was imminent danger, of course, and he was hollering, from what we understand, at the driver to stop.”
It was dark. The other driver was more than 50 feet away and may have had their windows up with the air conditioning running. Coworkers in the yard witnessed the impact and went to Peterson immediately. He was still conscious but in a daze when paramedics arrived and rushed him to Intermountain Medical Center in Murray.
Peterson had suffered massive internal injuries. The family later received more devastating news.
“With that was the major spinal cord damage that we have come to find out has left him paralyzed,” Fuller said.
Peterson is the sole provider for his family, which includes a two-month-old who had just been discharged from intensive care. Since the accident, the family says Saia has made almost no contact. Someone from the company stopped by the hospital to drop off Peterson’s lunchbox and cell phone. Beyond that, Fuller says the family has heard nothing.
“We’ve had no phone calls; we’ve had no, ‘Hey, how’s he doing?'” Fuller said. “Accidents happen; we understand that, we’re not blaming anybody in particular. It’s a very unfortunate situation that I think he deserves a little more attention, especially from his company.”
Saia issued a brief statement to FOX 13: “Our thoughts are with our employee and their family. We are focused on supporting them while cooperating with the appropriate authorities as we review the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
A GoFundMe has been launched to help the Peterson
Interviews courtesy of local media.
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