Video captures moment falling cell phone left woman brain damaged at Oklahoma fair
A woman who was struck by a falling cell phone at the Oklahoma State Fair last week has since been diagnosed with a brain injury after returning to hospital.
Rebecca Gillespie was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury on Thursday, almost 48 hours after she was hit by a cell phone that had fallen from a ride at the state fair, her mother told KFOR.
The 18-year-old, according to her mother, Heidi Gillespie, was diagnosed with concussion and was sent home on Tuesday night with instructions from doctors to rest and watch out for any symptoms.
On Wednesday, she was found unconscious by her boyfriend and was rushed back to hospital, where her mother said doctors gave a diagnoses of a traumatic brain injury following the incident on Tuesday.
“She [was] kind of slumped over and wasn’t responding,” said Ms Gillespie. “Does she have a brain bleed or is something going on or is she having a stroke? [There are] all the scenarios going through your head of what could be wrong.”
Ms Gillespie told the news station that despite a long road to recovery, doctors said on Tuesday “she was really lucky because it [the cell phone] could have killed her”.
A video of the incident showed a small object being flung from the Street Fighter 360 ride at the state fair on Tuesday before hitting Ms Gillespie, who was earlier released from hospital but lost consciousness days later.
“[The phone] gashes her head open, shatters. Glass went everywhere,” said her mother, recalling the incident.
Scott Munz, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma State Fair, told The Independent that organisers of the annual event worked to prevent such incidents and that taking cell phones on rides was prohibited.
“They have a ‘No Cell Phones’ policy on most rides, including the Street Fighter 360 (the ride the incident happened on), and that policy is clearly posted multiple times at the entrance to the ride(s),” he said.
“The ride operators do a visual search as the Fairgoers are getting on the ride. In this instance, the Fairgoer choose to ignore the posted ‘Rules & Regulations’ and hide the fact they were taking their cell phone with them on the ride.”
Mr Munz added that Reports were “filed with multiple agencies” following the incident and that “In an abundance of caution, the ride was shut down until it could be inspected for any mechanical malfunction(s). Finding none, the ride was re-opened a short time later.”
While the ride owners notified their insurers of the incident, Mr Munz said he could not comment on whether the Gillespie family would file any lawsuit.
