An 11-year-old girl is flat on her back at Jackson Memorial Hospital Monday night, recovering from a fall of about 20 feet at a Marlins Park rock-climbing wall.
Emily Davis was testing her climbing skills during Saturday’s game. When she reached the top, her safety harness failed and she crashed on the pavement below, where there was no padding.
Jeff Davis was recording on his cell phone when his daughter fell, so he captured the ordeal on video.
He said at that moment, “I'm just thinking be alive, be alive, be alive, be alive, that's all that was in my head, be alive.”
“It's heart-wrenching to know that she went through that and she had that impact,” said Emily’s mother, Peggy Davis. “Twenty feet up in the air it's your worst nightmare.”
Emily was first in line to climb the wall. Her father said he thinks the steel cable that was supposed to be connected to the harness wasn’t.
"The rock-climbing wall was closed immediately following the incident Saturday, and the matter is under investigation to determine the cause of the accident,” the baseball team said in a statement Monday. “The Marlins will continue to prioritize safety for all activities taking place at Marlins Park. We wish her well in her continued recovery."
The team’s new stadium opened in Little Havana in March.
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At this point Emily cannot move. She is in a neck collar, her body aches, and she suffered a concussion, her parents say.
NBC 6 asked Jeff Davis who he thought was responsible.
“If I have a rock climbing wall at my house, and you come over to my party and your kid falls in my front yard, I would feel, I don't even care about who I hired, you're at my house, my yard, I would feel responsible,” he said.
