Teen survives 50-foot plunge from bridge while taking selfie

Thursday, February 21, 2019
Dallas teen speaks after plunging off bridge for a selfie
Dallas teen speaks after plunging off bridge for a selfie

DALLAS, Texas -- Trying to capture the perfect selfie almost cost a Texas teen his life. Triston Bailey, 18, is lucky to be alive after falling from a bridge.

"You see it all over social media," Bailey said of people climbing to great heights for that perfect picture. "On Instagram and Facebook, people with really cool cameras. We wanted to have our own."

Bailey and his friends wanted to post a really cool picture of the Dallas skyline, so they climbed the Margaret McDermott Bridge. They say Bailey went over the bridge's concrete barriers and fell 50 feet trying to take the photo for social media. Bailey doesn't remember the fall.

"They heard me scream and they thought I was joking," Bailey said. "I broke my pelvis, I had a rib fracture, a punctured lung, I broke my face a whole bunch and I had lacerated my spleen."

A study from researchers found at least 250 people worldwide have died taking selfies in about the last six years. More than 70 percent of the victims were men in their early 20s.