Man, 27, Dies 2 Days After Skate Park Incident That Marked His First Time Using a BMX Bike

Sam Inwood, a 27-year-old BMX rider, died two days after a crash at Golden Grove skate park in Australia, according to South Australia Police.

Police said Inwood was riding at the park when he crashed and fell from his bike at about 2 p.m. local time on Thursday, Jan. 29. He suffered injuries in the incident but was not taken to the hospital until the next day.

He later died from his injuries on Saturday, Jan. 31, police said. Authorities noted his death was the 11th recorded on South Australian roads so far this year.

Robert Lonie, who was at the skate park with his two children, told The Adelaide Advertiser he saw Inwood attempt a landing and then fall into the bowl.

“The kids came running over to me, and they said, ‘He’s fallen and slid into the bowl,’ ” Lonie recalled to The Adelaide Advertiser. “He’d literally only been at the park for like a minute … he was sitting down, and I went over and said, ‘Is he okay? Is anything broken?’ ”

Lonie said he asked Inwood whether he wanted to go to the hospital, but Inwood declined. Lonie later returned to the skate park, he said, and learned from one of Inwood’s friends that the 27-year-old had died.

“It was only a day or two later, but his family took him [to the hospital], and he just bled out,” Lonie told The Adelaide Advertiser, adding that Inwood’s wife had been with him at the hospital.

“He lost [blood] because of internal injuries, and it just starved his brain of the blood it needed,” Lonie continued.

Through tears, Lonie told The Adelaide Advertiser he wished he had pushed harder to call an ambulance or get Inwood medical attention immediately after the crash.

“I just wish I tried hard[er], I wish I was more forceful,” he said. “Maybe things could’ve been better.”

Lonie also told 9 News that, at the time, he didn’t believe Inwood realized the severity of the injury.

“I didn’t think he was aware of how bad he got hit,” Lonie said, describing how people moved Inwood into the shade and checked on him. Lonie added that a friend told him it was Inwood’s first day riding, and suggested the outcome may have been a mix of inexperience, a hard impact and not seeking treatment right away.

After Inwood’s death, Krystel Pugsley, who said she met him through a Mystery Crew car group that organized trips around Adelaide, posted a tribute on Facebook, describing him as a close friend.

“He just had his birthday was just living life as well,” she wrote. “We all just met him and was taking him out having adventures, it was the best few months of our lives having him apart of our lives.”