SALT LAKE CITY – Friends and colleagues of a man who died from injuries sustained in a plane crash are thanking those who acted quickly to pull him out of the wreckage.
Jason Sorensen, a retired Davis County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant, paramedic and pilot for Intermountain Life Flight, died from injuries sustained during a plane crash just after 9 p.m. Monday.
Sorensen was the passenger in a 2-person experimental plane when it went down, crashing and catching fire off of Legacy Parkway last Thursday.
Lyle and Brad Berglund were on the highway, driving to a job in Clearfield when they saw it happen.
“[The plane] clipped the right wing and kind of did a cartwheel type thing and exploded on impact,” Lyle said as he stood next to his brother in the Intermountain Life Flight hangar Tuesday afternoon. “At that moment, I decided to pull over and turn my hazards on and bolt it out of my truck.”
Lyle said as they approached the scene of the crash, “My brother Brad said, ‘This is going to be bad, I don’t want to see this,’ and I told him, ‘I don’t want to see it either,' but we didn’t have anything holding us back or any other options really.”
Upon arrival, the brothers said they worked quickly to extract Sorensen and the pilot from the wreckage. Sorensen suffered extensive burns and multiple broken bones, but was conscious at the time.
“I remember, when we got up to the plane, there wasn’t very much hesitation to go in and pull them out,” Brad explained. “Once we [saw] them moving, it was a pretty gruesome sight, but we knew what we had to do and we just did it.”
“[Sorensen] had his fist up like this,” Lyle said as he held up a fist. “Almost as if he was trying to say thank you… or that’s what I like to believe he was trying to say.”
Jason was transported to the hospital by medical helicopter. He was taken to the ICU at the University of Utah Burn Center where he underwent multiple major surgeries before ultimately succumbing to his injuries.
“I just wanted to help, [saw] a problem that there was a life at stake, and we were in a position that we were capable of doing something so you could either say no or yes,” Brad said. “A life’s on the line, the answer is yes.”
Even though Sorensen did not survive, those close to him expressed a great deal of gratitude to the Berglunds.
“I understand the people are here that pulled him from the plane,” said longtime friend and former colleague, .
Since Brad and Lyle are both self-employed, neither has health insurance. Both sustained injuries while removing Sorensen and the pilot from the wreckage, and are not seeking further assistance for emotional trauma.
A fundraising page has been created to help cover their medical expenses. It can be found HERE. Donations can also be made via Venmo to @Juliane-Berglund.
The Davis County Sheriff’s Office, where Sorensen served 20 years and recently retired as a lieutenant, said he spent his life saving others and will continue to do so after death with the donation of his organs.
Sorensen leaves behind a wife and two young children.
DCSO said funeral details will be announced either later this week or early next. An account has been set-up under his name at America First Credit Union to help cover medical and funeral related expenses (account #9116393). Donations can also be made online through the Davis County Fraternal Order of Police, HERE.
