'Please come forward': Partially paralyzed Utah father pleads for help finding crash witnesses

MILLCREEK — A Utah man who was partially paralyzed in a multi-vehicle crash in southern Utah is asking the public for help identifying a driver who investigators say caused the collision and then fled the scene.

Jared Fredrickson, 33, said he suffered severe spinal cord injuries in the May 1 crash on state Route 59 near Hurricane and is now a C4 partial quadriplegic.

"I'm probably 85-ish percent numb from the chest down," Fredrickson told KSL. "I've got pretty severe nerve pain through my arms and my hands."

Fredrickson was participating in an annual "Red Rock Recovery" motorcycle ride, celebrating sobriety with others, when the crash happened.

"All of a sudden I see this poof of red dust shoot up in the air a little bit further down, and kind of out of nowhere, this vehicle comes over across the road, smashes the truck that was right in front of me," he said.

According to the Utah Highway Patrol, an unidentified black sedan attempted an improper pass at a high speed, causing a crash involving three vehicles and Fredrickson's motorcycle.

Fredrickson said he swerved to avoid the crash.

"I had (a) split second to make a decision on what I was doing," he said. "I realized that those two vehicles were covering the whole right side of the road, and then the far right-hand side was kind of a ditch, a little gully. So I went this way because that's the only option that I had."

The driver of the black car left the scene.

One of the drivers involved in the crash died.

"This young man, he unfortunately didn't make it," Fredrickson said. "So there's no closure for his family."

Six months later, Fredrickson and the Utah Highway Patrol said they still have had no leads on the driver responsible.

Fredrickson believes someone who was traveling through the area may have witnessed the crash or captured information.

"Everybody's there again for these parks, these recreational activities," he said. "Somebody had to have had a GoPro, dash cam, something to see something, or saw the vehicle driving off."

Fredrickson now attends therapy multiple times a week as he works to recover from his injuries. He said the crash has left him in constant pain and created significant financial challenges.

The real estate agent and entrepreneur said he was the main provider for his family. Fredrickson said his intensive therapy schedule and physical challenges prevent him from working as much as he did before the crash.

"It's also very expensive; without somebody who's taking accountability, there's no responsibility for the financial aspect in the way of insurance settlement or anything like that," he said. "So that means a lack of financial coverage on our end, too, and leaves us picking up the bits and pieces, both physically and financially."

As the investigation continues, Fredrickson said he hopes anyone with information about the black sedan will come forward, both for his family and for the family of the driver who was killed.

"You have information, maybe you know somebody who's down there at the time, May 1 of this year, somebody that might have known somebody in the area that could have seen something and maybe just figured that somebody else had already given a statement, already given information, just, anything that you've got, please come forward," he said.

A *GoFundMe has been set up to help the Fredrickson family with medical bills.

*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

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