Teen critically hurt in 5-story stunt leap (Jumps off roof to pool & misses - w/video)

Sarasota Herald-Tribune ^ | 5.8.03 | MIKE SAEWITZ

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STAFF PHOTO / CHIP LITHERLAND / chip.litherland@heraldtribune.com Paul Smith leaped from a roof -- visible at lower left in this aerial view -- at the Sarasota Surf and Racquet Club on Tuesday. He hit the edge of the pool and suffered multiple leg fractures. The Sheriff's Office is expected to file criminal trespassing charges against Smith and his friends if the club agrees.

Teen critically hurt in 5-story stunt leap

By MIKE SAEWITZ
mike.saewitz@heraldtribune.com SARASOTA COUNTY -- With his friend videotaping him and five others watching from below, Paul Smith leaped from the roof of the five-story condominium Tuesday night and sailed toward a swimming pool below, authorities said.

It was a stunt the 18-year-old had seen his friends pull off, like something on "Jackass," the daredevil MTV show and movie in which the host and stars outdo each other in feats of insanity and danger.

As the camera showed, Smith didn't splash cleanly into the water. His torso and legs crashed into the ledge of the pool, and then he fell into the water.

"Paul," yelled the friend holding the camera. "Wake up!" "Wake up!"

" You'll be all right, Paul," said another friend. "Calm down."

Smith, 700 block Ponder Avenue in Sarasota, was taken by helicopter to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, where he was in critical but stable condition Wednesday afternoon, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office. He suffered multiple fractures to both legs.

Janet Stone, Smith's mother, told WWSB Channel 40 news that her son had attempted similar feats before."This is what I feel is so important for the public to understand," she told a TV reporter. "All his pranks come from the 'Jackass' movie. … Granted what my kid did was stupid, but they are impressionable."

Nationally, the movie and TV show have been blamed for scores of imitator acts that ended in serious injuries, even deaths. The show's producers have defended themselves by saying the series bears a warning not to try its stunts at home.

Sheriff's Office spokesman Steve Burns said the teens were trying imitate "Jackass." He said he didn't understand why Smith would put his life in danger.

"He's an 18-year-old and can make his own decisions," Burns said. "I hope that everybody he sees on television or movie he wouldn't duplicate. To willfully do something like that and be injured, it makes you shake your head."

The Sheriff's Office released videotape of the incident. It shows several of the teens successfully jumping from the roof, and one of them jumping from a building into a tall bush. And it includes footage of another teen running through Sarasota Square Mall in a one-piece women's bathing suit.

"Hopefully this video will wake some kids up," Burns said. "If this had to happen, you hope that it means that it won't have to happen to other kids. Kids need to know there are consequences for their actions, sometimes very serious consequences."

Other teens involved in the stunt, and their families, declined to comment or did not return phone calls.

Deputies were called to the Sarasota Surf and Racquet Club on Midnight Pass Road at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.Smith, a Sarasota High School dropout, James Zinkand, 16, and Nicholas Nelpert, 18, were at the condominium tower, according to the sheriff's report.

Emmy Calvo, one of the managers at the Sarasota Surf and Racquet Club, said Smith and his friends "were not our guests at all." The stairwell is locked, she said, and she did not know how Smith and his friends got inside.

The Sheriff's Office is expected to file criminal trespassing charges against Smith and his friends if the club agrees.Resident Lynn Bonnvie said she saw one of the teens jump successfully and remembers thinking, "You guys are crazy."

She talked to one of Smith's friends after the ill-fated jump.

" We did it the first time," he said, according to Bonnvie. "Everything was fine. I can't believe this is happening."

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WTSP-TV/DT Tampa Bay news report - WMV stream(3:23)

The kid is an idiot, and his mom isn't much better - she blames MTV for her kid's idiocy...

[mhking]

It's difficult to feel sorry for this kid.

"Hold muh beer 'n watch this!" PING....

If you want on or off this list, please let me know!

[ricpic]

DOH!

[John Beresford Tipton]

"All his pranks come from the 'Jackass' movie. …


No lady, "All his pranks come from his being a 'Jackass.'"

[Wolfie]

" We did it the first time," he said, according to Bonnvie. "Everything was fine. I can't believe this is happening."

So doofus actually did it twice?

[Living Free in NH]

Come one. Let's give him a little credit - the pool had water in it...

[battlegearboat]

It happens every generation.

It's called thining the herd.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

We have all heard the anecdotal tales of the six year old, wearing his Superman pajamas who jumps off the top of the garage while trying to imitate his favorite superhero. This kid is too old to get away with the, "I didn't know it was dangerous" defense.

As Gump would say, "Stupid is as stupid does."

[mhking]

Come one. Let's give him a little credit - the pool had water in it...

Yeah, but the sound of impact is pretty nasty...

[mhking]

So doofus actually did it twice?

Yep - not only him, but his buddies too....

[Prysson]

Its called culling.

[Living Free in NH]

Yeah, but the sound of impact is pretty nasty...

And now some poor bastard has to clean the pool...and the deck...and the underwear of all who were involved.

[ctlpdad]

where i grew up, we had an abandoned summer camp with a lake at the end of my street. we had a pully set up in a tree next to the boathouse, and we would pull our bikes up onto the roof of the boathouse , ride across the roof, hit the jump we made (from stolen lumber from the houses they were building down the road) and jump the bikes in the lake. sometimes 3 or 4 of us at a time.

we had lots of other more insane stuff we did, like combinations of tonka trucks, rocket motors (the estes d-12 if i recall) and glass jars of gasoline.

We didn't have a movie to blame it on, and my parents would smack ME if i got hurt.

[Kenton]

Fear not, dear readers, this is just part of God's Master Plan to keep idiots from breeding.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Cool video... I like watching idiots hurt themselves... call it a character flaw...

[Randjuke]

The TV station edited out the "graphic" impact - maybe it would have been better to leave it in to counter the images that Jackass presents. As far as the kid's mom goes, she's pretty clueless.

[Pyrion]

He needs to kick the plan into high gear; too many people are still voting democrat.

[Chad Fairbanks]

"HIS LEG IS OUT OF HIS LEG, MAN!"

[mhking]

The TV station edited out the "graphic" impact

Fox News Channel ran the video this morning, and didn't edit out the impact...

[newzhawk]

how old were you then?( in reference to your chilhood pranks)
when I think that the average age of the soldiers in Iraq is 19- and this "jackass" is 18 it is hard to think he is nothing more than an idiot that was waiting to be stopped- thank goodness he didn't hurt anyone else in the process