A high school sophomore in Utah is now suffering from a coma as a result of an online trend. Per Fox 13, 15-year-old Ava Broadhead stood on top of a moving vehicle. At some point, she fell, landing directly on her head. Aymee Race, representing the Unified Police Department, addressed the incident in a statement.
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"The victim was on top of that car and as the car was driving around, the victim fell off. And unfortunately, pavement isn't as forgiving and the victim hit their head," Race stated. Broadhead was making an attempt at "car surfing," an online fad Race proceeded to explain. "That can be anywhere from kids hanging on the tops of cars to the back of cars standing up through their windows and then going either at so rates of speed or high rates of speed on these vehicles."
Race emphasized the danger of the fast-growing trend. "Unfortunately, with social media, there's ebbs and flows to these types of trends and right now this trend has been picking up, I mean, it stems from the eighties and movies to 10 years ago, this was a significant trend and now here we are again with this trend picking up."
A High Schooler Is In A Coma Due To An Online Trend
Furthermore, Kandis Broadhead, Ava's mother, spoke to Fox 13 about her daughter's current condition. "She had an extreme brain injury and she needed to be rushed into brain surgery. And it was a life-or-death surgery," Kandis explained. "She is in a medical induced coma, just staying stable, letting her brain rest. I can't imagine a future with Ava not being Ava. It will take months -- if not years -- to recover from it."
Additionally, Kandis used her daughter's accident to educate others about the dangers of car surfing. "I have gotten upwards of 30 plus messages of people that said this happened to my nephew, this happened to my neighbor, this exact situation happened to my friend's daughter. I'm hearing that it's actually happening and they're having the same traumatic brain injuries and it's changing [the] courses of their lives."
