49ers…Is it a Coverup Yet?
More details on the Shanahan incident emerge.
This isn’t a 49ers hit piece. It’s not a Kyle Shanahan hit piece (I actually like the guy). This is about truth.
Kyle Shanahan called the 49ers beat writers into his office on Tuesday to clarify a point he, and everyone else had been hearing on social media. Per Grant Cohn of Sports Illustrated, Shanahan informed various local media members that he was at fault for the car accident on July 14th that left him hospitalized, despite reports it was the other driver. Shanahan claims that while he was driving, he dropped his phone, attempted to pick it up, and then swerved into the opposite lane, causing the accident.
In the initial report from ESPN, the Palo Alto police department said their policies prohibit them from releasing information regarding the cause of a collision, or which party may be at fault. Based on facts from a California public record search, Grant Cohn originally wrote that Kyle Shanahan was “not ruled to be at fault for the crash because the other driver, a 21-year-old woman, apparently swerved into his lane…”
The same public record search listed that Shanahan had been holding his phone, and that it was in use leading up to the accident.
After Shanahan’s confession to the beat writers the Palo Alto police had to make a new statement. Per ESPN’s Nick Wagoner, the Palo Alto Police Department cited a “clerical error” as the reason Shanahan wasn’t listed as the person at-fault for the collision on their public information website.
The police statement went on to read “It is not uncommon for officers to elect not to issue a citation to either party involved in a collision. Neither party in this situation was provided preferential treatment.”
Let’s look at what we know.
Kyle Shanahan was driving his car while using his cell phone. He dropped the phone and attempted to pick it up, causing him to swerve into the wrong lane, and hit another vehicle, resulting in a major car accident that ended in his own hospitalization.
Shanahan was not cited for the collision.
The police department originally stated that they don’t comment on who’s at fault for causing a car accident.
The state database listed the other driver as the one at fault, not Shanahan.
The media, both national and local, didn’t report on the matter for 11 days.
Once a 49ers beat writer reported Shanahan wasn’t at fault for the accident, based on the public record search, the 49ers Head Coach clarified the truth. And then the police department claimed they made a “clerical error.”
Good on Shanahan for clarifying the truth. I’m sure there are people who wish he wouldn’t have, but it was the right thing to do.
The most likely conclusion is often the right one. The most likely conclusion for this situation is a major coverup.
I’m expected to believe that none of the beat writers knew about the accident until the team broke the story, followed two minutes later by a detailed ESPN report?
I’m expected to believe that the police department that didn’t issue their local team’s head coach a ticket for a collision that was obviously his fault, also happened to make a “clerical error” in the report? And they only noticed after Shanahan said something? (Never mind the several days before that everyone on Twitter X was saying the other driver was at fault)
Clearly there is some kind of conspiracy involved. At a minimum, ESPN sat on the story until 1/32nd of their new business partner thought they were ready to control the narrative. At worst, we’re looking at a mass media conspiracy that includes covering for a corrupt police department’s decision to throw a 21-year-old under the bus on their public database to shield blame from their local team’s head coach (or accept a bribe of some kind).
Unfortunately, we don’t have any answers that make sense right now. Surely the 49ers (and the Palo Alto police department) are hoping this whole thing goes away. The general public deserves the truth.
If only there was a job out there where people on the ground (some call it a beat) could look into these things, and then report their findings to the general public.
-Written by Seattle Mike