The Orlando Sentinel, a local news journal in the Orlando, Florida area, reported on a skydiver who was injured on Saturday the 13th of March. The man was 40 years old and was severely injured during a skydiving incident. He was reported to have not landed in the landing zone area and instead crashed into a couple of parked cars. The cars were parked at the skydiving facility, Skydive Deland, not too far off from the landing zone. This information came from local police reports.

The incident occurred at 6:30 pm and emergency responders showed up on the scene soon after. They had received a call from the skydiving business located at the DeLand Municipal Airport. The call indicated that the diver had made a rough landing. All of this information was included in the incident report made by emergency personnel.

The man who was hurt in the incident is named Luis Lopez Mendez. He is a resident of DeLand. Witnesses at the scene reported to police that he hit a Honda Civic and another Honda car as he was landing and then landed on the ground. He was flown by first responders to Halifax Health Medical Center that is located in Daytona Beach. His injuries include a compound fracture on the ankle and a femur that is fractured. According to police, upon arrival at the hospital, he was rushed into surgery and was listed as being in critical condition.

The Honda Civic was reported to have received damage on the door, fender, and hood, indicating the force of the hard landing that Mendez endured. Police also indicated that the other Honda car involved received some minor damage. The police took Mendez’s camera and parachute to be used as evidence.

While skydiving is generally a very safe sport, there is of course some risk involved. When jumping out of a plane thousands of feet in the air, there is always going to be a certain amount of risk that the individual takes upon themselves. Even experienced skydivers can sometimes make small mistakes or other factors like weather can come into play. Fortunately, occurrences like the one that happened to Mendez are very rare. This is what makes this story newsworthy. The first responders were able to be on the scene quickly and get Mendez the medical care he needed. The police reports are also essential in an occurrence like this to document what happened and ensure that the skydivers and skydiving facility involved can make any corrections needed to make future skydives safer if possible. But, overall, skydiving is a very safe sport as long as everyone involved is trained and equipment is tested and used properly. Luckily, in Mr.Mendez’s case, he has lived to tell the tale despite his injuries.