Brown suffered concussion in spectacular X Games fall
X Games 13: Jake Brown Survives Big Air Fall
LOS ANGELES -- Jake Brown, who had a spectacular crash in Thursday night's "Big Air" skateboard competition at the X Games, was released from the hospital on Saturday.
He suffered a lung contusion and a right scaphoid (wrist) fracture and will have surgery next week for the wrist fracture, X Games officials said. A CT scan on Friday on Brown's liver was negative, and he was revealed to have a vertebrae fracture which was a preexisting medical condition.
Speaking in a phone interview from the hospital with ESPN's Sal Masekela before he was released, Brown said: "I'm happy to be talking to you ... [the fall] doesn't look so hot on TV. It looks like my head is about to fly off my neck. I guess there was some luck involved. I'm happy to be talking to you."
Brown spent two nights in the hospital after falling 40 feet on the Skateboard Big Air mega ramp during his fifth run Thursday night at Staples Center.
After pulling off a difficult 720 over the ramp's 70-foot gap, he launched up the adjacent quarterpipe and immediately lost control. Plunging face first, his legs pedaling wildly, Brown turned over in the air and landed on his tailbone, with his head and limbs hitting soon after.
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He slid limply down the last few feet of ramp and lay motionless for nearly five minutes.
The crack echoed into box seats at the top of the Staples Center.
Fans and fellow competitors worried Brown could be paralyzed or worse, and Bob Burnquist, the only competitor with a run remaining, said he thought seriously about just letting Brown, who was in first place, have the gold.
Vert skaters typically don't wear pads on their lower back and tailbone, but in the super-risky Big Air event many wear gear similar to body armor.
Burnquist topped Brown's score in his final run to take the gold, then sprinted into the nearby corridor to see Brown off to the hospital.
Information from The Associated Press is included in this report
