Summer Fun Takes Dangerous Leap

INSIDE EDITION reports on the summertime fun of jumping into the water from bridges and cliffs that has turned to risky business for too many people.

Every summer, dozens of risk-takers jump, flip, and dive off sky-high bridges and cliffs into dangerous waters below.
 
Videos of death-defying leaps are all over the Internet.

Watch the Segment

Badboy Justin Bieber jumped off a cliff in Hawaii, landing in treacherous surf.

The teenage girls in one video were clearly nervous before they took the plunge in another video, and with good reason.

"Do you really think it's ok?" one girl asked.

One girl was winded by the impact and had trouble breathing. Luckily her friends are there to help.

"Oh my God! Get her!" a friend screamed in the video.

But the close call doesn't stop them. They just kept on jumping!

And when another guy attempted a colossal dive, he hit the cliff. He had to be medevaced to the nearest hospital for injuries to his ribs.

Here at INSIDE EDITION, the dangers of risky jumps are known all too well.

Charlie McLravy, a former investigative producer for the show, nearly lost his life after plunging 100 feet off a bridge near Yosemite National Park in California.

McLravy told INSIDE EDITION, "I remember peering over and being like 'Holy cow, this is high.'"

A picture taken just seconds before McLravy slammed into the water below showed the dangerous scene.

"As soon as I made contact with the water I knew something was instantly wrong," explained McLravy.  "I couldn't feel anything below my waist. I was just like this giant shock, and I came up. Luckily I got to the surface and I was screaming 'help, help!'"

McLravy shattered a vertebrae on impact, almost severing his spinal cord. He was confined to a wheelchair and had to learn to walk again.

Today, he still deals with constant pain.

INSIDE EDITION's Jim Moret talked with McLravy when they returned to the scene of the accident.

"Look at this thing," said Moret. "What were you thinking?"

"I've done a lot of dumb things in my life, but this was by far the stupidest," said McLravy.

He wants his brush with death to be a cautionary tale to anyone thinking the thrill might be worth it.

"It may look cool," said McLravy.  "It looks like a hell of a thing to do. It was. But I paid the consequences and I deal with that everyday of my life now. So don't do it!"