Crazy Accident

[parks_jr_55]

Saw this on Schnitzskis




Monday, July 4,
By Andy Hirsch


Deadly Water Skiing Accident



What was supposed to be a fun holiday with friends turned tragic Monday morning in Lycoming County. An off-duty Pennsylvania state trooper was water skiing with friends when something went horribly wrong. An officer with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission said Scott Worthington, 34, died after he was hit in the head with the handle of the tow-rope he was using. It happened at Palmer Lake, a small and private lake off Palmer Industrial Road, not far from Williamsport. The lake has a water skiing course where Worthington and two friends spent part of the morning. Around 11 a.m. emergency crews were called to the lake. An officer with the Fish and Boat Commission said Worthington was slaloming through the course, holding the handle with one hand, when it somehow struck him in the head. Shortly afterwards, the coroner was on the scene. He believes the handle broke Worthington's neck. A boat was brought to the scene and volunteer divers were called to help with the investigation. One investigating officer called the death a tragic and unfortunate accident. Fellow troopers at the Montoursville barracks, where Worthington worked for six years, described him as an avid water skier and a great person they will miss at the barracks.


Remembering Scott Updated 7/8/05

It is with great sadness that I report a tragedy within our water skiing family. Men 2 slalom skier, Scott Worthington from Williamsport, PA., died water skiing on July 4, 2005. Scott left behind his wife and 18 month old daughter. A trust fund has been established in his memory for his daughter. Anyone wishing to make a contribution may do so to the following.



Lea Worthington Trust Fund
c/o Pastor Gary Runtas
Light and Life Chapel
1680 Four Mile Drive
Williamsport, PA 17701



Trust fund contribution questions can be directed to Pastor Gary at the above address or by calling him at 570-322-0143. For those that did not have the opportunity to meet Scott, he was a super guy. Scott was always very pleasant, helpful, and ready to offer a friendly word. He always wore a smile on his face. This was especially so last summer while he carried his infant daughter in his arms. Scott loved his family and loved to ski. He certainly will be missed.



Doug Robbins
Eastern Region EVP

[Mag_Red]

:( Truely sad story. I don't get how the handle could have hit him in the head tough :confused:

[parks_jr_55]

Neither do I.

I figured someone on here would have an idea how it might have happened.

[rodltg2]

was he driving and the handle snapped back into the boat? or was he skiing?

[Granite_33]

Scott Worthington, 34, died after he was hit in the head with the handle of the tow-rope he was using.
.........................
Shortly afterwards, the coroner was on the scene. He believes the handle broke Worthington's neck.



2 Very Interesting Comments...............

[WTRSK1R]

Could the rope have broken and the handle came back and hit him in the head as he was loading the line?

[X-45]

If I were to take a guess I'd say he was wake surfing. :(

[shepherd]

An officer with the Fish and Boat Commission said Worthington was slaloming through the course, holding the handle with one hand, when it somehow struck him in the head. Shortly afterwards, the coroner was on the scene. He believes the handle broke Worthington's neck.

Well, if the news report was accurate, he apparently was slaloming -- not driving or wakesurfing. My question is, are they sure the handle hit his head? After some wipeouts I've had, I can imagine breaking your neck just by hitting the water wrong, although even that sounds unlikely.

A freak accident to be sure!

[JDK]

I'm thinking that there might be more to this story than what's been released so far.

"He believes the handle broke Worthington's neck."

[Granite_33]

I'm thinking that there might be more to this story than what's been released so far.

"He believes the handle broke Worthington's neck."
I really hope he wasn't skiing with the handle around his neck.............

[Jerseydave]

My condolences to his family........what a horrible story. :(

We need to all pull together and give to the trust fund that was set-up in his name. His 18 month old daughter has just lost her father, and we have lost one of our skiing brothers. We must show the family how much we care in any way possible.

Count me in for $100.

(I'm 42 with 2 kids and cannot imagine how horrible this must be for his family.)

God speed, Scott. :(

[mitch]

I'll assume that he fell and the handle ended up around his neck somehow. Truly a sad story

[ski_king]

I'll assume that he fell and the handle ended up around his neck somehow. Truly a sad story
Yes very sad story, but I guess it can happen to any of us at any given time.

Could have went out the front and had slack in the rope.

[stevo137]

Like a have mentioned before, bad things can happen very quickly even if we take measures to prevent them.
It is a sad story. Sounds like he was doing what he loved to do when it happened.

[betsy&david Harrison]

There is definetely something missing from this story. If the rope broke while he was locked and loaded then he would have fallen...hard...and broken ribs and possibly his neck...(had it happen to a friend, busted ribs). If he mis grabbed the handle and his arm went through...oooh don't want to think of that one. You guys have put up some very interesting scenarios. It truely is a tragic story but like I and others have mentioned, something is missing here.

[VTJC]

This thread http://eclipse.nicholls.edu/cgi-bin/BBS/webbbs_config.pl?noframes;read=10163 has some insight to this tragedy. Jamie

[jimmer2880]

I agree... something is missing.

But - then again, the newspaper reporters in my area are rarely 100% accurate in their reports.

[Leroy]

Wow VTJC! After reading that I want to add the webbing to the handle. Remember pix on here where someone already did that to their handle.

[Leroy]

Several versions of this on the site.



Scott was 190 lb.

Instantaneous. Broken neck.

Must have been face first though the yoke of the handle. Handle got behind the angle of the jaw bone. There was a significant facial (jaw) injury. Bent the handle. The handle was a curved Advantage handle with the anti roll system. I am not sure if it was a 12 or 13 inch handle. If you look up this handle you will see that it looks to have a larger than average yoke. Wide firm plastic on the sides causes the yoke to stay particularly wide open.

[jmo_54729]

I think it happened like this:

You have to consider the mechanism of injury. Don't believe
what the newspaper says, they know nothing about
water skiing. I've learned a lot about examining the mechanism
of injury doing ski patrol all winter.

In my opinion:

He was going around a slalom course buoy, when he cut too hard and broke at the waste, then was pulled over the front of his ski.

He held onto the handle as long as he could, at the same time, he pulled it in towards his waste, (as trained) and unfortunately, he did a face plant. Only has head all his momentum went directly into the triangle part of the handle, straight down into the water.

The boat then pulled the handle and snapped his neck, above C7, stopping all movement and breathing instantly.

A similar incident happened to me once when I was about 14.
I fell going around a buoy, and my arm went up though the triangle part of the handle, up to my armpit.

The boat pulled the handle away and ripped my arm. My ski glove flew off and landed about 30 feet away from where I was in the water. (Which is hard to imagine, because I have to restle with them to get them off at the dock.) The force of the boat applied to the wrong part of your body can be very bad. My entire arm, from the armpit down to my wrist was black and blue. A freak accident yes; but, it tells us that if you know that are going down, (and we all know when we are about to go down...don't we :) just accept it, and release the handle and rope...get it away from your tumbling body....

Think of the motorcross riders. They have learned, that when
they have lost control of there bike, to bail, and do it safely.

Jim
National Ski Patrol

[Thrall]

The boat pulled the handle away and ripped my arm. My ski glove flew off and landed about 30 feet away from where I was in the water. (Which is hard to imagine, because I have to restle with them to get them off at the dock.) The force of the boat applied to the wrong part of your body can be very bad. My entire arm, from the armpit down to my wrist was black and blue. A freak accident yes; but, it tells us that if you know that are going down, (and we all know when we are about to go down...don't we :) just accept it, and release the handle and rope...get it away from your tumbling body....

Jim
National Ski Patrol

Had the same thing happen to me boardin' last yr. I got rotated in mid air, knew I was going to yard sale, tossed the rope, landed on the rope, put my arm thru the handle, and thought I lost my arm. Was blackand blue from chest to shldr to fingertips.
It's unbelievable how quick it happens until you experience it, and I was only going about 20mph.

My condolences to his family.

[Upper Michigan Prostar190]

My deepest sympathy to his family. :(

You know, this type of thing puts the fear of god into you. It just reminds you of how fagile life is and that we must respect it all the time.

I have to add that I am a pretty careful skier. I dont do anything reckless. I am cautious. I dont want to say this like I am boasting,but I have gotten pretty expereinced at falling(yea, I fall alot) I dont mean I am good at it, but I have had lots of practice at it. When I sense I am losing it, I dont fight it. I dont try to recover or do the impossible. I realize its a split second thing, but I usually have just enough reaction time to realize I am about to buy some aquatic realestate and try to relax my body as much as I can and just let the fall happen. TO be honest, I have NO idea when the handle leaves my hands as it happens to fast, but I think its when I hit the water. KNock on wood, I dont have many injurys and I fall alot. I think I have just trained myself to let them happen and that works to my advantage of not getting hurt. I have a ski buddy that took a heck of a bad face plant 2 weeks ago. He really wrenched his neck. He went face first and I watched him do it, his body got rigid and he wedged himself right in. his face caught the water, and it up ended his entire body to come over him, next thing I saw was a big white spray with two feet coming out of it as he went over. that wipeout really rung his bell. we made sure he was "ok" and got him to shore, he was just a sore puppy for a few days. It shook him up for sure. Shook me up a bit too. He hardly ever falls. I think some people have a "thing" about falling, like it makes them less of a skier. Not me, falling is a part of skiing. I just accept it and try to keep myself uninjured.

Here is a big wish that we all have a safe and healthy ski season this year and every year.

[jimmer2880]

I stand corrected after reading that article. It could easily happen to me.

jmo_54729 - you're not a CRAYon or an SGI'er are you? I spent some time working at SGI for 4 years. Visited the factory in Chippawa for a week. Georgous place. I could move there!