An NFL photographer fractured her spine during a fall at an event in Los Angeles after the Super Bowl Parade yesterday as LA Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford looked on and appeared to turn his back and walk away from the injured photographer. Kelly Smiley, a California-based photographer, was standing on a stage when she suddenly fell in front of Stafford and his wife Kelly.
You can watch the incident in the tweet embedded below where Stafford and his wife see Smiley abruptly drop off the stage. Stafford looks on, mouth agape, and then appears to walk away and take a sip of his water bottle as his wife goes to aid Smiley.
“That’s me,” Smiley wrote on Twitter afterwards. “Waiting at the ER for X-ray results. Both my cameras broke but I’m ok.” In follow-up tweet a few hours later, Smiley wrote: “Unfortunately I fractured my spine.”
UPDATE: Matthew and Kelly Stafford announced they will be covering the medical expenses for Kelly Smiley. “We have been in communication with Kelly Smiley … and we are sorry for what happened,” the couple said in a statement.
A GoFundMe campaign for Smiley has been started by a friend of hers to help cover her medical expenses from the fall and the damaged camera gear, which appears to be Canon-branded.
“Hey all, my name is Tim and Kelly is a dear friend of mine who needs your help. This morning (2/16/2022), while covering the Rams parade in Los Angeles, Kelly took a heavy fall off the stage while covering the event, and it landed her in the hospital with a fractured spine,” Tim Kothlow wrote.
“The funds raised by this gofundme will help cover Kelly’s growing medical expenses as well as replace the camera gear that was severely damaged due to her fall. Since Kelly is a working photographer, she needs this gear to help keep her working after fully recovering.”
The video of Smiley’s fall in front of Stafford has gone viral on Twitter with many commentators, unsurprisingly, taking the QB to task for not helping the photographer.
“Drunk or not how do you see someone fall from that high and just turn and walk away immediately?!?” someone tweeted while alluding to the fact that Stafford had been seen earlier drinking at the Super Bowl Parade.
@AdamSchefter get on Matthew Stafford watching a photographer fall of the stage at the Rams parade and walk away 🤦♂️ pic.twitter.com/LfjSJ3fzYy
— LoganTheHammer (@LoganTheHammer) February 16, 2022
