'Fun center' trampoline blamed for shattered bones

Sky High Sports in Bellevue calls itself a trampoline "fun center," but KIRO 7 has learned that on Monday a lawsuit was filed claiming Sky High and its operators are "grossly negligent."

And visitors to Sky High are being rushed to local hospitals in alarming numbers.

The pictures and the x-rays tell the story.

The right leg of a 21-year old Kirkland man broke last November while he was jumping on a trampoline at the Bellevue center. His mother was so concerned about the injury and what she calls a lack of safety at Sky High.

• PHOTOS: Trampoline Injuries At Sports Fun Center
• Complaint #1 Against Sky High
• Complaint #2 Against Sky High
• Complaint #3 Against Sky High
• Sky High Sports Statement

Julie Brand said shortly after the injury, “thank goodness they had already started him on morphine, but I was just completely shocked.  I mean, you saw the images, his leg was blown-up. The bones had come out of the skin. It was bleeding, I mean, it was truly,” Brand’s voice trailed-off, then she continued  “the nurse looked at me and said, you aren’t going to faint are you?”

According to documents obtained by KIRO 7 Consumer Investigators, both the man's tibia and fibula had snapped right above the ankle.  Emergency responders wrote in their report, the young man was, "jumping on (a) trampoline, landed, and felt (a) snap in (his) lower leg."

Brand says it happened when her son was jumping from trampoline to trampoline as Sky High's Web site video advertises is possible.  Brand says her son’s foot slipped through the yellow pad that covers the springs between the jumping surfaces.

 “His foot was stuck and the weight came down and snapped it, “ she said. “It was really horrific.”


An eyewitness said of the same injury, “this kid had a bone sticking out of his leg.”  The eyewitness, who didn’t want to be identified, visited Sky High Sports often until witnessing “multiple safety issues” including the compound fracture suffered by Brand’s son. 

The eyewitness said, “that particular injury alone leads me to believe there’s obviously a major safety issue that needs to be addressed.”

It's not just that one injury.  According to the documents obtained by Consumer Investigators, emergency responders have been called to Sky High Sports on 120th Avenue Northeast at least 20 times since the business opened, just last September. 

Since Sept. 8, jumpers at Sky High have suffered five broken tibias and fibulas, like Brand's son's injury.

Seven broken ankles. A broken foot. Four knee injuries. Plus one neck, one back and one leg injury.

What's even more frightening, it's impossible to know how many jumpers have been injured in all because of cases like Tom Rayfield's 15-year old son. His son suffered a severely broken ankle while jumping at Sky High, but there's no official document detailing the incident because no one from the center apparently called 911.

The boy's friends called his dad from a cell phone. 

“So I raced to the facility and picked him up and took him the short distance Overlake emergency room,” Rayfield said. He also said his son, an experienced trampoline jumper who has his own in his backyard, was injured when one foot landed on the trampoline, the other through the springs, crushing his ankle.

Now, the high school athlete and sports-lover is going through rehabilitation. His father worries how this injury will affect the rest of his life. 

"When you have something like that happen, I need to get the word out that this is not a safe place,” Rayfield said.

Rayfield claims word of the injuries is getting out, adding “the injury trail is certainly not a mystery to anybody in the medical community.  When we were at the Overlake emergency center, it was like oh, another one from Sky High.”

In fact, according to the 911 reports, all but one injured jumper were brought to Overlake Hospital Medical Center, just a few blocks away from Sky High. 

Dr. Thomas Miller is an Emergency Department Physician there. Federal regulations won't allow him to talk about specific patients or their injuries, but in general  Miller said there are ways for trampoline jumpers to minimize risk, including “having one person jump at a time as opposed to multiple people on the same surface, and having some netting or some sort of restraining protection around the rebound surface.”

As surveillance video shot recently by a KIRO 7 producer shows, many people of all ages are apparently allowed on Sky High's trampolines at once. There is no netting  to prevents jumpers from falling onto hard ground or from falling through the springs, which is what Brand and Rayfield claim caused both of their sons’ fractures.

            In general, Miller advises people to avoid trampoline jumping at Sky High or anywhere else.  He said, "I have actually warned my children that I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

The dangers of trampoline jumping are clear in Sky High Sports' liability waiver that all patrons must sign before jumping.  It warns that the "unknown risks" of jumping "could result in physical or emotional injury, paralysis, death."

Julie Brand's son has now filed a lawsuit claiming Sky High and its operators are "grossly negligent."

Tom Rayfield may also pursue legal action and has already retained an attorney who believes anyone under the age of 18 cannot legally be held to the waiver's "hold harmless" clause. 

“You cannot waive the rights of a minor,” Seattle attorney Sim Osborn told KIRO 7. “A minor is not competent to enter into a contract if he signs it himself, or if someone signs it on his behalf.  You cannot waive another person’s rights.”

Legalities aside, Brand and Rayfield worry that their once-active sons might face futures full of limitations.

“I don’t know what kind of impact long-term this kind of injury will have on his livelihood,” Brand says of her son, a carpenter. Brand’s son just filed a lawsuit claiming negligence and gross negligence.

Tom Rayfield says of his son, “he was really hurt badly and as a result, I would like that nobody would have to go through what he has gone through.”

Sky High Sports’ owners, Ron and Jerry Raymond, live in the Bay Area of California.

According to a statement from Raymond, he said “At Sky High we take our customers safety very seriously. Because a high percentage of home trampoline injuries are from falling off or through the trampoline, we have specifically designed foam padding at flaps that contain jumpers. We have designed a frame system that makes for softer landings and our angled trampoline walls prevent jumpers from falling off. We also have Court Monitors on every court to ensure everyone is following the safety rules.”

Read his entire statement here.

Raymond said over the phone that Sky High does limit the amount of jumpers to about 120 at a time and that with 30,000 jumpers per month, the injury rate is relatively low.

Raymond also admitted that the number of injuries at Sky High in Bellevue could be higher than at Sky High’s two California facilities and revealed he will look into why that might be.

He also admitted that Sky High staff members don’t call 911 every time someone is injured; they leave that decision up to the injured customer.