Neighbors rush to help in Kaysville crash that killed father of 2


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KAYSVILLE — One person was killed and four more injured when their car smashed into a boulder and tumbled down the road in a Kaysville neighborhood. Several neighbors rushed to the scene doing all they could to help.

Melissa Pledger’s husband was one of them. She said he was still pretty broken up.

“As soon as we heard the initial collision, he went running. He was first on the scene,” she said.

Pledger said they never heard any tires screeching Sunday — just the crash. The car hit a boulder outside their home, causing the car to tumble.

“People were coming on the scene — Samaritans — trying to apply pressure to all the head wounds because there was, it was pretty horrific,” she said.

The victim was identified as 27-year-old Hayden Hansen. Pledger said her husband saw him lying on the road.

“My husband just held him,” she said.

He stayed with Hansen until first responders arrived.

“He just ran into that cloud of smoke. There was no fire but there was so much dust,” Pledger said. “I mean, the impact was just such that it knocked rocks 30 feet and knocked our mailbox 100 feet.”

Hansen later died at the hospital. Four other passengers were rushed to area hospitals.

Officials said Hansen left behind two children. His family told KSL he was a friend to everyone and easy to love.

Pledger said the car hit the boulder hard enough to break it apart.

“This flew when they hit it and it rained down and hit my husband’s vehicle,” she said.

An accident like this, where a car loses control and crashes, happens about once a year along this stretch of Crestwood Road, according to Pledger.

“Every time we talk to police on the incident report, we say, ‘Hey you guys. We need to do something about this. This is a problem,” she said.

Kaysville city manager Shayne Smith told KSL that residents can report problem areas online.

Smith said in his four years with the city he has never seen a request to evaluate Crestwood Road.

Pledger said she has worried that someone could lose their life.

“Our fears came true yesterday when that happened,” she said.

Editor's note: A previous version of this article incorrectly said that Hayden Hansen was married.

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Mike Anderson, KSLMike Anderson
Mike Anderson often doubles as his own photographer, shooting and editing most of his stories. He came to KSL in April 2011 after working for several years at various broadcast news outlets.
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