SALT LAKE CITY — The Utes football team is cheering a young fan toward a speedy recovery.
Spencer Wall was one of the four kids out trick-or-treating in Taylorsville Saturday night when a Sedan hit him and his friend, Karl Finch, while they were crossing a crosswalk. Medics rushed the two boys to the hospital where Karl later died.
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“We feel extremely blessed but at the same time devastated for what happened to Karl,” said Keven Wall, Spencer’s father.
Wall said Spencer has broken bones throughout his arms, hips and legs. He also needed emergency brain surgery.
“It’s just one day at a time. They say to expect more of a roller coaster than a steady uphill climb,” he said.
He said Spencer is now awake but doesn’t remember much of what happened. The family is waiting to tell him about Karl’s passing.
“I don’t think he has a lot of specific memories of it,” said Wall. “The other boys that were there, he hasn’t asked about yet, which good, I’m not yet ready to answer that question.”
On Thursday, Spencer got a special visit from someone with the Utes football program to show him their support.
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“They gave Spencer a hat, a shirt, something else, then a football signed by the entire team,” said his dad.
Wall said Spencer proudly identifies himself as “the biggest Ute fan ever.”
“We just moved back to Utah and so the first game we went to was the BYU-Utah game,” he said. “He was talking a lot of smack to BYU fans. A little 12-year-old kid talking a lot of smack to BYU fans.”
He said his son was all smiles Thursday to know the team he roots for is also rooting for him.
“To see a group of people like the Utes who have no tie to Spencer and they don’t know the tie Spencer has to them, but to see them reaching out and shorting their support in him, it’s been really…words can’t describe it,” said Wall.
