10th-grade boy recovering after fracturing skull, spine in Indian Hills gym fall

UPDATE: A 10th-grader at Indian Hills High School in Oakland was in the Intensive Care Unit at Hackensack University Medical Center, expected to recover from his injuries, after fracturing his skull and spine during a gym horseplay mishap this morning.

Photo Credit: *Cliffview Pilot File Photo*

Jerry DeMarco

03/24/2015 9:48 p.m.

A source with direct knowledge of the 7:45 a.m. incident told CLIFFVIEW PILOT that the boy had climbed a set of mats to get to a ladder that school personnel use to hang netting for sports practices when he plunged several feet, missing a pad and hitting his head on the floor.

The boy was conscious, his mother with him, as he was airlifted by AirMed One from the high school field, responders said.

Fortunately, he didn’t sustain a spinal cord injury, they said.

Franklin Lakes dispatched a mutual aid engine to back up Oakland firefighters. Borough police also responded.

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