Kyle Shanahan Admits Fault in Crash After Media Blackout

**Craig Carton** (0:03)
Hey, hey, 341 I gotta tell you real quick before I get back to your calls on Harbaugh, yesterday and today are, it's a very interesting period of time here in the NFL, where gosh darn it, I wish that Deanna Racini was sleeping with the San Francisco 49ers head coach, because have you been following this at all?

**Chris McMonigle** (0:28)
Now that he's okay, it would actually be a funny meme if she was sitting passenger seat.

**Craig Carton** (0:32)
So the story is this, Kyle Shanahan, the head coach of the Niners, I guess a couple weeks ago, thereabouts, about two weeks ago, was in a really bad car accident.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:42)
I think it was the 14th, right?

**Craig Carton** (0:43)
Okay, so it's about two weeks ago, right?

**Chris McMonigle** (0:45)
About two weeks ago, 10 days ago.

**Craig Carton** (0:46)
So he's in a car accident. He suffers significant injuries. The airbags go off in both cars, I guess, that were involved in the accident.
He's got like 60 stitches in his face. According to some reports, he almost lost an eye. Yeah, he was really, really banged up.
And this weird thing happened from the minute the accident happened through yesterday. And that is everybody squashed the story. And that means the police didn't give us information on the story as they normally would. If there's an accident anywhere, the folks that cover the Niners agreed to a blackout on the story. Certain national commentators and broadcasters knew about the accident when it happened, excuse me, a couple weeks ago. They all sat on their hands and didn't report it. And I'm trying to figure out why. Now, one of the things that came out yesterday that I thought was very interesting was that the, I guess it's the San Francisco Police Department made an announcement or a press release and came out and said we will not publicly discuss anything about the accident, including who was at fault. Now, as I understood it based on what I've read, and please fill in the blanks if you read something different, it sounds like it was a two-car accident, okay? Thankfully, nobody perished in that accident, but there were significant injuries. It also has come out this morning that there was, I guess, in the initial police report back to dispatch that Kyle Shanahan was on his phone at the time of the accident as well. So, very clearly could have been a distracted driving situation. We don't have to be factual, but there was a report I saw this morning that he was on his phone, all right? So, I'm trying to figure out, A, why did the police department clam up on this, and why wouldn't you put out the facts of your findings, which is either Kyle Shanahan or the driver of the other car was at fault for the accident? And let's get into the details of the accident. But more pressing than that, and the thing that gets me, and it's why so many people have lost so much faith in reporting today, in journalism today, why would everybody that covers the Niners or had a relationship with Kyle Shanahan that's in the media, why would everybody keep a tight lip on it?
Yeah.

**Chris McMonigle** (3:19)
I don't get it either. As far as reporting the accident which they held and sat on for a couple of days, that I certainly don't get. Why you would know or have information that he was in a car accident and not report that story, that I don't understand. As far as the police go and who's to blame, if it's not a criminal proceeding, if no one is being charged with a crime, does the police typically report who's to blame on accidents?
I think they put out the facts.

**Craig Carton** (3:49)
I think there's a police blotter and they'll say there's a two car accident on I-95 and they'll say, I'm making this up.
A four door Toyota crossed over the median and collided with a Hyundai, whatever. They do that without subscribing names to it, obviously.

**Chris McMonigle** (4:06)
Of course, that's now the take or the feeling is, the feeling is if the other car was to blame, we'd know about it.

**Craig Carton** (4:11)
I feel that, and that's how I feel.

**Chris McMonigle** (4:13)
It's unfair to him because I don't know who was to blame. We've gotten this report, he was on the phone, but when you say we're not reporting who's to blame, the assumption is you're protecting the person with something to lose, which is the coach. So now the assumption is it's his fault. But if there's no criminal proceeding, if he didn't do any, if everyone's okay, him, the other drivers, the people in the other car, and there's nothing criminal about it, do we care who's at fault?