Teen who survived fall from 60-foot bridge speaks out: I want pusher in jail
In early August, sixteen-year-old Jordan Holgerson and a group of friends spent a summer’s afternoon bridge jumping at Moulton Falls in Yacolt, Washington this week. They were jumping off the bridge’s ledge, and into the waters of the Lewis River below—a known hazard (and technically illegal, according to the county’s fire chief). But when Holgerson refused to take her turn because she was nervous, one of her friends caught her off-guard and shoved her in.
Holgerson then fell 60 feet into the river. The incident was caught on video—and, horrifyingly, you not only hear her terrified scream but also the loud sound of her body slam into the water. The teen told NBC local news affiliate KGW8 that the impact of the fall caused her to have ‘five broken ribs, air bubbles in [her] chest, and a punctured lung.’ The Clark County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to People that they have investigated the incident, and passed their case onto prosecutors, reports cosmopolitan.com.
‘In midair, I think I might’ve blacked out,’ Holgerson told KGW8, but says that she ‘was awake and aware when I hit the water.’ She added that someone had to swim and rescue her before she was rushed to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver. ‘I could’ve died,’ she said.
Her mother, Genelle Holgerson, said that the family knows the identity of the friend who pushed Jordan—and wants her turn herself in to authorities. ‘I’m very upset with her,’ the mom told Thoroughbred Daily. ‘She is an adult, and I’m sure she should have known better,’ she said. ‘She could’ve killed my daughter.’
The friend in question has been cooperating with police, The Daily Mail reports, and has apologized to Jordan. Still, in a recent interview with the TODAY Show, Jordan reiterated her family’s stance that charges be brought over the incident: