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Zalabak Lives Through Freak Accident |
On October 1, a basketball hoop fell on a student government member preparing for the Coronation Assembly in the boy's gym. Junior Stryder Zalabak was hit in the leg and in the chest by a swinging basketball assembly. The hoop in the southwest corner of the gym was being pulled up to make room for students to sit in the bleachers. It was about one-third of the way to the ceiling when one of the cables connecting the assembly to the ceiling snapped, sending the assembly swinging back down toward three students standing in the bleachers: Zalabak, senior John Diaz and junior Daniela Bonilla. Bonilla and Diaz dove out of the way, but Zalabak was in the way of the assembly. The horizontal supporting bars struck him in the leg, throwing him backward into another row of bleachers. The hoop bounced back, and hit him again in the chest.
Within moments, Mr. Romo, Dr. Hart, Mr. Garza and Mr. Harrison were at the scene. They secured the broken basketball hoop and followed through with administrative procedures. A parent supervisor called 911 from a student's cellular phone, and within a few minutes the paramedics arrived. Family members arrived shortly after.
The damage to the hoop was apparent. One of the supporting bars was bent, andthe cable attached to the ceiling hung limply in its pulley. "We will fix the hoops," says Dr. Hart, "with the money from Measure E. Let's hope it passes!" Measure E is the bond measure allotting $24 million for renovation of the rest of the High School. It will be on the November 6 ballot.
Zalabak was strapped to a gurney and taken to a hospital via ambulance, but the injuries weren't as bad as originally thought. No blood was spilt, and what was thought to have been a broken thighbone and broken rib was in fact some torn muscles and a few large bruises. When the assembly came down both times, Zalabak caught the support bar and fell with it. When the bar hit his leg, it actually lifted him instead of hitting him straight on. Both these instances greatly reduced the impact of the bars and possibility of serious injury. When asked to comment about the accident, Zalabak jokingly replied, "John Diaz should've saved me, but he's a coward."
Dr. Hart was very concerned about the incident. "The Coronation Assembly was great," he says, "but there was such a cloud over it. I couldn't think of anything but Stryder the whole time. I was very worried; once I got the news that nothing was broken it was as though a huge weight had been lifted."
Many students are concerned about the safety of the school. "It's scary to think that our school could be this unsafe," says Junior Klarissa Garcia.
The side basketball hoops hadn't been lifted in at least five years, until the installation of the new bleachers last year, when new motors for the hoops were installed also. Since then, they have been successfully lifted and lowered three times. The aging cables and pulleys caused the accident.