Florida boy, 18, badly injured after getting haircut in middle of ROAD for social media stunt
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By ELIOT FORCE, US NEWS REPORTER
Published: | Updated:
A Florida teenager was seriously injured when he was struck by a car while getting a haircut on a highway median in an attempt to make a viral social media video.
The crash occurred shortly after 8pm on Sunday in Ocala, a city about 80 miles northwest of Orlando, according to the Ocala Police Department.
An 18-year-old and two other young adults, none of whom were publicly identified, were in the center of a six-lane highway called Southwest College Road 'filming a social media video where they were giving a haircut on the median,' police said.
As they recorded, a 3500 Chevy Silverado pickup truck crashed into a Lexus SUV at an intersection, sending the Silverado barreling at the 18-year-old, police said.
The teenager was transported to a hospital 'in serious condition.' No other injuries were reported, according to police.
The cause of the crash is under investigation, though police said that neither of the drivers involved in the crash showed signs of intoxication.
A local content creator named Yaj Lerom arrived at the scene shortly after the crash and recorded the aftermath, showing many emergency vehicles with their lights on.
He also recorded a brief interview with the young adults who were filming the social media stunt and asked them to explain what happened.
These two young adults were filming a haircut on the median of a highway when their 18-year-old friend was struck by a car and severely injured
Video taken shortly after the crash shows many emergency vehicles with their lights on. Police said the cause of the crash is under investigation
'We were chilling right there, and I was giving my boy a haircut,' one of the young men said while pointing at the middle of the highway. The video also shows him holding what appears to be a fountain soda, though it is unclear when he bought it.
'He was recording it,' the man said while gesturing toward his friend. 'He probably saw the crash more than me because I was turned around.'
'Then I remember just hearing a whole bunch of cars, like the tires screeching and sh**, and then as soon as I looked back, the car hit me and my friend,' the man continued.
The other young man then said: 'Next thing you know, we're pancakes and flapjacks - flying. It's not even funny.'
'And then I came over there to sit down after the crash, and then I seen my friend lying on the street, and then they took him, but they won't tell us anything else other than the hospital he's at,' he added.
Lerom, the man who recorded the interview, told WKMG: 'Being a content creator, I don’t want to sound hypocritical because I’m in some crazy places, but I’m not putting myself out there.'
'My thing was, young kids, something needs to be done. These accounts that are doing that need to be banned. They shouldn’t even be seeing these videos,' he added, referring to similar videos of haircuts in the middle of a road.
The crash occurred at this intersection along a six-lane highway in Ocala, Florida. The median where the young adults were filming the haircut video can be seen here
Lerom also described the highway where the group had been recording as 'very, very busy' and said it would be 'common sense' not to film there.
'But some people don’t gain common sense till later in life,' he said.
The Ocala Police Department told WESH that the injured 18-year-old was in stable condition on Monday evening.
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