A 10-year-old boy was taken to a Los Angeles children’s hospital in critical condition Friday afternoon after “car surfing” on top of a car with his parents behind the wheel, falling off, and getting run over by the same car, according to 23ABC News. I mean, it was one thing when kids sneak out to do these mischevious things, but it’s another when the parents are involved.
For the uninitiated, car surfing basically entails standing on top or hanging off of a moving car, riding it like a surfboard. It’s the sort of thing that sounds fun if you’re young and/or very dumb but is therefore filed firmly in the “DO NOT TRY” section of our vehicular bucket list.
California City PD responded to calls about a child being hit by a car a few minutes after 4 p.m. near Neuralia and Ironwood Avenue. Police say the boy was “surfing” on top of the vehicle when he slipped, fell down in front of the car, and got run over. According to a family friend, the boy broke both shoulders, his pelvis, fractured some ribs, and will have to undergo surgery.
As of Sunday morning, the family says he also has internal bleeding from an unknown area, although brain activity is reportedly “great” and the boy thankfully sustained no spinal injuries. Nonetheless, a lengthy recovery is expected.
Police say the incident remains under investigation.
In case you’re still tempted to try car surfing, here’s a short clip from Inside Edition that shows just how dangerous the stunt is.
That being said, something tells us the type of person who’d car surf in the first place—along with those who thought the Bird Box Challenge or ingesting laundry detergent was a good idea—isn’t the type to heed any sort of advice anyways.