Skateboard crash imperils boy’s life

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, June 4, 2006

MUKILTEO – John Pyles didn’t think twice about giving his son a specialized skateboard for his birthday.

Now he’d give anything to take it back.

His son, 15-year-old Joe Pyles, is in intensive care at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He suffered life-threatening injuries May 17 when he lost control of his longboard on a steep, winding road in Mukilteo and slammed into a parked sport utility vehicle, Mukilteo police said.

Since then, doctors have kept him heavily sedated because his injuries are so severe.

“It’s your worst nightmare times 10,000,” John Pyles said. “For the first few days, I kept hoping I’d wake up out of this nightmare, and then reality starts setting in.”

Every bone in Joe’s face was broken. He also suffered a punctured liver, ruptured spleen and a fractured right femur. Doctors had to amputate his right leg.

His condition has improved since then, according to a journal his family has posted on the Internet.

Joe’s pupils are responding to changes in light, and he’s showing signs of recognizing friends and family members. Doctors began reconstructive surgery on his face last week.

Family and friends have stayed at Joe’s bedside since the accident.

Several of his classmates at Kamiak High School shaved his initials into their heads, and some have styled their hair into “JoHawks,” said Chelsi Brooks, the older sister of Joe’s best friend, Mitch Brooks.

Joe has played high school football and had enjoyed skateboarding, snowboarding and baseball, his father said.

“This is a very active kid,” John Pyles said. “He’s going to have an extremely hard time adjusting to the changes in his life.”

Longboards are wider, longer skateboards. They’re more stable than skateboards at high speeds, and they’re faster because of their larger wheels, said Matt Gormley, owner of Frontside Board Shop in Monroe.

They can easily exceed 40 mph on downhill stretches, he said.

“To bomb hills, that’s not traditionally what a longboard would be used for,” Gormley said. “For the most part, a longboard is just going to be like a sidewalk surfer.”

Longboards were novelties five years ago, but now they can be bought almost any place that sells skateboards, Gormley said. They’ve become more popular because they appeal to a more mellow crowd, he said.

“It’s for someone who’s looking for the feeling of a skateboard under their feet, but doesn’t want to do tricks or go to a park, just cruise,” he said.

“It’s super unfortunate for young kids to get hurt,” he added.

John Pyles said he didn’t know longboards were capable of going so fast. Had he known, he would not have bought one for his son.

“There’s nothing on the road right now that can run these kinds of speeds without brakes on,” Pyles said.

Tony Woodward, division chief of emergency medicine at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, said the bigger problem is where people choose to board.

When speeding down a hill, skateboarders and longboarders don’t have enough time to safely react to parked or moving cars, he said.

Also, safety gear isn’t designed to protect someone who is skateboarding too fast, Woodward said.

People should use designated skate parks, he said.

“Kids who are going 30 to 40 mph are usually pretty good at what they’re doing, they just aren’t doing it in a safe environment,” Woodward said.

Joe and his friend, Mitch, often went longboarding together. David Brooks, Mitch’s father, said he’s talked to his son several times since the accident about the dangers of their sport.

Brooks isn’t sure whether Mitch will longboard again.

It’s up to him, his father said.

“Somebody asked me the other day, ‘Did you take your son’s longboard and cut it up and throw it in the garbage?’” Brooks said. “If anyone needs to cut it up and throw it away, it’s going to be him. He’s the one who needs to realize what a danger that is.”

The crash happened about a mile from where Joe lives with his father.

John Pyles, a concrete worker, has continued working to maintain his health insurance benefits. The rest of his time is spent at the hospital.

He seldom sleeps more than a few hours a night.

“You sit here with all this time, and your mind runs crazy,” Pyles said.

The worst part for Pyles is not being able to help his son. It’s too early to predict how Joe will recover, he said.

He only hopes others might learn from his family’s pain.

“It doesn’t matter what time it happened, it happened,” he said. “It could have happened to anyone.”

Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.