A 31-year-old Navy veteran has died after taking part in a free fall attraction at the San Bernardino County Fair in Victorville. Sabrina Gordon jumped from a platform as part of the “FreeDrop USA” Thursday night. The attraction has fair goers leaping from a platform about 40-feet high, free falling, and landing on a huge inflatable bag. Her father, Lyle Bell, told ABC 7 that he is not sure exactly what happened, though it looks as if his daughter may have hit her head after jumping.
“You get professional stunt people that do these things. You don’t have ‘Joe Blow’ off the street for $15 jump out of a tower on an airbag. They’re letting people do this down there,” Bell said. “It’s their first year there, and sure enough, somebody gets killed, my daughter.”
Victor Valley News reported on the accounts of people at the fair who witnessed the tragedy:
According to on-scene witnesses, the woman went to jump then looked as if she changed her mind and grabbed the sidebar. Her body swung, hit the scaffolding then hit the pavement below landing on the front side of her body. “The [employee] reached out to grab her, but she let go and fell to the ground,” described Shannon Waldron, who was waiting for her husband and son who were in line preparing for their jump.
Bell, a 10-year Navy veteran, was airlifted to Victor Valley Global Medical Center in Colton, where she died early Friday morning. The owner of “FreeDrop USA” said that the attraction has had over 50,000 successful jumps, in 36 cities without incident. Officials from the fair said the attraction has been shut down indefinitely while authorities investigate.
Bell now plans to take legal action, telling CBS 2, “I’ve never had heartache like this before.”
