Making his first public comments since being part of a head-on car accident earlier this month, Kyle Shanahan admitted fault on Tuesday for the collision that left him with serious injuries.
The San Francisco 49ers head coach met with reporters in his office to give his side of the story after the initial news that leaked out over the weekend pinned the blame on the other driver.
A California database that tracks car accidents listed the other driver at fault for making an illegal turn. But Shanahan, 46, said that wasn’t accurate.
“I hit her,” Shanahan said. “I don’t know why it was reported that way (on the collision report database). The police report doesn’t say that.”
The accident occurred July 14 in Palo Alto and it did not become widely known — nor did the 49ers comment on it — until this past weekend in the lead-up to training camp.
“I was going 20 miles an hour,” Shanahan said. “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.
“It’s one of those roads where there’s no forgiveness. … When I hit her, the impact was just so, I’ll just never forget how violent it was.”
Shanahan suffered a concussion and broke his left hand, nose and three ribs in the collision. He required more than 40 stitches to his face.
The woman in the other vehicle was not harmed.
A Palo Alto police spokesperson told multiple outlets in a statement Tuesday that Shanahan was telling the truth.
“I can confirm that Kyle Shanahan’s statement that he provided is correct and that he was found at fault for the collision,” Lt. Nicolas Martinez said in the statement. “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.
“It is the officer’s discretion at the scene of the collision as to whether they issue a citation to either party. It is not uncommon for officers to elect to not issue a citation to either party involved in a collision. Neither party in this situation was provided preferential treatment.”
Shanahan is around the team but not healthy enough for full activity, so assistant head coach Chris Foerster is handling Shanahan’s duties along with the coordinators. He said although he is healing well, due to fatigue he cannot yet “stay the hours” required of an NFL head coach.
Shanahan also insisted he did not lose consciousness during the accident and was awake when receiving stitches at Stanford Hospital.
“It just crushed me hearing the girl get blamed for it,” Shanahan said. “I’m just lucky that I survived, that she didn’t get hurt and that I didn’t lose my eye.”
Shanahan enters his 10th season as head coach in San Francisco. He owns an 82-67 record in the regular season. He has a 9-5 postseason record and has guided the 49ers to a pair of Super Bowl appearances — losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020 and 2024.
–Field Level Media
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