Posted on 02/05/2004 9:59:57 PM PST by In_25_words_or_less
NEW YORK - A champion snowboarder performing a routine stunt for David Letterman's late-night TV show veered off a ramp outside the show's theater and fell 25 feet to the ground Thursday.
Snowboarder Tara Dakides was taken to a hospital and was listed in stable condition after receiving stitches — and a visit from Letterman.
"The only thing I am upset about is that the French judge only gave me a 5.6," Dakides quipped from her hospital bed, according to her spokesman.
Witnesses said the 30-year-old Dakides, of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., made two successful jumps on the U-shaped ramp, set up on 53rd Street in Manhattan outside the Ed Sullivan Theater, and then fell off the ramp on her third attempt.
"She came down at an angle and she just went off the side of the ramp and landed on her back," said Dave Riddle, of Orlando, Fla., a bus driver.
Dakides, a snowboard competitor since 1993, was in New York to showcase her talents on the Letterman show and discuss the silver medal she just earned at the 2004 X Games.
Dakides has finished first in several X Games events, dominating slopestyle, according to the EXPN.com site.
Letterman's executive producer, Rob Burnett, said he hoped that Dakides "makes a full and complete recovery and that she'll be back on the `Late Show' soon."
The CBS show regularly tapes stunts on the streets outside the studio.
Because of the accident, the "Late Show" stopped taping Thursday and planned to air a repeat episode Thursday night.
well, it could happen.
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