A 15-year-old dancer is in a coma after she fell off the top of a moving car in a Utah park as part of a dangerous online trend called “car surfing,” according to authorities and loved ones.
Cyprus High School sophomore Ava Broadhead is fighting for her life following her ill-fated attempt to stand atop the moving vehicle last Wednesday night, police said.
“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,” said Unified police Sgt. Aymee Race told Fox 13.
The teen girl suffered severe brain trauma, according to a GoFundMe started to raise money for her family’s medical expenses.
“Before this accident, Ava was looking forward to performing with her dance team at the homecoming football game and attending the homecoming dance in a beautiful white dress she had just picked out,” a family friend wrote.
“Now, instead of those joyful experiences, she faces a long road to recovery, where she will need to relearn basic skills like walking, talking, and even simple tasks like tying her shoes.”
Ava’s mother, Kandis Broadhead, told Fox 13 her daughter required brain surgery that was a “life or death” operation.
The teen’s car surfing incident at Magna Regional Park happened after the high school’s homecoming parade was canceled because of poor air quality.
“They decided to do the trend that’s seen on, I don’t believe it’s seen on TikTok anymore, but you can search it up other places called car surfing,” her mom said.
The teen is in a medically induced coma so her brain can rest, but Broadhead fears a long road ahead for her child.
“I can’t imagine a future with Ava not being Ava,” Kandis Broadhead said. “It will take months, if not years, to recover from it.”
Car surfing stems from a social media trend that is catching on again amongst young people, Race, the police sergeant, explained to the local Fox station.
“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,” she said, “this was a significant trend and now here we are again with this trend picking up.”