The Truth About Car Surfing
With the recent car surfing accident in Draper where 13 year-old Sydney Kener was critically injured when she fell off the back of her best friends car, Gephardt Daily wanted to shed some light on the popular, yet dangerous game some parents don’t even know their kids are playing.
Car Surfing, as explained by Wikipedia is “riding on the outside of a moving vehicle being driven by another person. It has resulted in numerous deaths, predominantly caused by head injuries.”
According to a report published in 2008 by the Centers for Disease Control, researchers examined 18 years of news reports from January 1990 to August 2008 using a newspaper article database. The researchers found 99 reported incidents of car surfing, 58 percent of which were fatal and of those that were fatal, 75 percent of those were due to a head injury.
Like Sydney, who suffered a head injury and had severe bleeding in her brain, it all starts with what many think is an innocent ride on the hood, trunk or front of a car. Sydney is slowly recovering but she still has months of rehabilitation to undergo and her life suddenly changed from being a teenager hanging out with friends, to one fighting for her life.
Some of the more recent tragedies that have occurred from car surfing include a long list of mainly teens and young adults who never fully understood the deadly or life altering consequences and a long list of parents who have never even heard of it.
April, 2015 – 18-year-old Lupo Benson, just two months from graduating high school, suffered a fatal injury after being thrown off the hood of the car he was riding on in his schools parking lot.
October, 2014 – 18-year-old Quacheenu Zach Vang, of La Crosse, WI., died after falling off a car and suffering a fatal head injury.
November, 2013 – 17-year-old Marisol Quesada, of Salem, OR., died after her and a group of friends were car surfing in the local Wal-Mart Parking lot and Maisol fell from the trunk of the car hitting her head on the pavement.
August, 2012 – 21-year-old Shawn Swanson of Wisconsin, died after riding on his stomach on the roof of a car and falling, hitting his head on the pavement.
The stories are endless of the people who have died just in the last several years. But there is more. The drivers in most of these deaths have faced a wide range of charges as a result of their involvement in the deaths. The driver of the car Sydney was riding on was issued a citation, however Sydney survived her injuries. Others have not been so fortunate.
According to TwinCities.com, the driver of the car Shawn Swanson was riding on, Cole T. Fohrenkamm, also 21-years-old, was initially charged with homicide but plead to reckless driving was sentenced to three years of probation, 30 days in jail and will complete 300 hours of community service.
The Startribune.com cites that John McKenzie of Sheboygan, WI, was sentenced to 60 days in jail after his lifelong friend, 19 year-old David Weyrens, fell to his death car surfing from the top of McKenzie’s car.
Independent.com stated that Lanie Richardson, 30, of Santa Barbara, CA., was sentenced in 2014 to 14 years in prison for the death of 26 year old Allison Meadows who died after falling off a car driven by Richardson. Richardson was going over 70 MPH over when he hit a speed bump, causing Meadows to fly off the car and skidding over 200 feet. She died before she could be transported to the hospital.
There are too many stories to list, so many people have needlessly suffered over what so many have considered just a game.
Many of the families of those who have died, are doing just what Sydney Kener’s family is doing, speaking out. They want to warn others about the dangers of car surfing in hopes to prevent others from going through what they have.
“I want to make this story aware to all teens so that nobody has to go through this,” said Alexis Kener, Sydney’s sister. She further states “It’s not okay and not a silly game. Were just blessed for my sister to be alive and doing as well as she’s doing.”
