Back on February 9th 2004 X Games snowboarding champion Tara Dakides was performing a stunt for David Letterman’s late-night TV show when she veered off a ramp built on the Manhattan street next to Ed Sullivan Theater and fell 25 feet to the hard concrete below.
She was immediately taken to the Bellevue Medical Center where she was treated for a concussion, bruising, and a cut that required a few stitches. The show stopped taping and aired a repeat episode the night Dakides’s stunt was intended debut.
After recooperating for a few days, Dakides returned to sit down with Letterman where she watched her terrifying accident for the first time in front of the audience. Nicknamed “The Terrorizer” Dakides took it in stride but this was nasty.
Helmets were not as widely accepted for skiing and snowboarding back in 2004 as they are these days and Dakides was not wearing one for this stunt gone wrong. Thankfully she wasn’t too badly injured and was able to make light of her crash and joke along with Letterman during her makeup episode. Remember folks, wearing helmets on the mountain is a very very smart idea no matter how conservatively you ride or your level of expertise, you never know when disaster may strike.
