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Pro skater gets hit by cab, flips into the air, somehow emerges unscathed
Ninety percent of pro skateboarding does not happen in a controlled environment. Sure, there are the large-scale park contests that you see on TV—like X Games and Dew Tour—but the reality is most skateboarders make their livings dodging security guards, zagging pedestrians, and zigging traffic, all in attempt to film their next video part for sponsor A or a new ad for magazine B. This is where we pick up Palace skateboards pro Blondey McCoy, who in the process of filming for the Palace’s upcoming video, PALASONIC, took the bare-knuckled fist of street skateboarding straight to the nose and somehow lived to tell about it. Brace for this one. You can practically feel it.
TYPICALLY, when attempting a trick into a busy street, skaters will set up “spotters” for traffic, making their attempts at red lights or lulls in the flow. But obviously Blondey was freelancing a bit here, and nearly paid the ultimate price: Death by purple taxi. Thankfully, however, you can see he catches the cab out of the corner of his eye about a second before the collision and somehow (mostly sheer dumb luck) manages to ride the impact, do a handstand flip off the windshield, and stick the landing.
As you can probably tell from both the look on his face and the dumbfounded rubber-neckers just out on their lunch break hoping not to watch some kid get killed, this was beyond a close call—this was eight of nine lives all at once. You've got one more to go, Blondey. Use it wisely.