On Thursday night while competing in the Big Air event inside the Staples Center during X-Games 13 boarder Jake Brown after completing a 70-foot jump went up a ramp, while airborne he lost his board and proceeded to free fall some 50-feet through the air to the ramps lower surface. The force of the landing actually separated his shoes from his body as he crashed to the deck.
X-Games personnel rushed to Brown’s aid, as he lay motionless for nearly 8 minutes on the ramp deck. Many in the Los Angeles crowd thought that he was possibly dead or paralyzed. Brown, wearing a shirt that said “Blind”, was able to actually get up and walk off under his own power. He was taken to a local hospital where he was kept overnight because of concerns due to some bleeding in his liver and a concussion.
He was released this afternoon around 2 p.m. western time.
Danny Way, he himself an X-Games participant, designed the ramp that was used in the Big Air event, which this year was moved inside in order to help cut down the effects that wind has on the skaters. Way said he had spoken to Brown twice since the incident and that he was doing well after what Way describes as one of the “gnarliest slams I’ve seen in my entire boarding career”.
Brown is expected to recover fully and be back falling out of the sky in no time.
[Editor’s note: here is the video courtesy of Anthony from the Oriole Post. Not for the weak of stomach.]Â
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