An attempt at impressing college football coaches went horribly awry for a teenager in Florida. In hopes of creating a memorable video to send to recruiters, 19-year-old Bladimir Barreto staged an elaborate stunt on Wednesday that seriously injured him, according to various reports.
“He’s lucky that it wasn’t worse than what it was,” Palm Bay Police Department spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez told Florida Today. “The motive was apparently to video something to show to college recruiters for football."
In the video above, Bareto can be seen running down a road toward a moving car. He attempted to leap over the car but did not clear it. Instead, he was tossed high into the air by the impact.
"I mean he's always doing stuff like that and he's always getting it right, so I guess he just got over confident," Cameron Tennant, a neighbor and friend, told WKMG Local 6 in Orlando, who reports that Barreto has not woken up since the accident.
Barreto was airlifted to Holmes Regional Medical Center's trauma center and was conscious at the time, per 10 News in Tampa Bay.
The aspiring football player attended West Melbourne Christian Academy and previously played for the Brevard Grizzlies, a defunct amateur football team.
The stunt may have been inspired by a 2008 sneaker commercial starring Kobe Bryant. In that commercial, the Lakers' star appeared to leap over an oncoming Aston Martin. Speaking to John Ireland of KCAL-TV about the viral Nike ad (via SPORTSbyBROOKS), Bryant explained the video by simply saying, "It’s Hollywood. What’chu expect out here?”
In the ad, Bryant cautions viewers, who presumably don't have the aid of Hollywood special effects, not to try this at home.
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