Local

Car-surfing stunt leaves young people with injuries

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett police are reporting cases of car-surfing among young people, and a father was allegedly behind the wheel in one case.

Car-surfing is when someone stands on the roof or hood of a car while it's moving. In one case, three young people were on the car when the driver stopped suddenly and two of them hit the ground hard and were badly injured.

Police told Channel 2's Tom Regan the incident started with a night of wild partying.

"The girl with the really bad wound was laying there and that car was at an angle," said neighbor Carey Martin, who witnessed the incident.

Martin described how she found two young women bloodied and moaning in the street after they were thrown off the hood or roof of the car.

One of the girls who was hurt is 18-year-old Kirstin Dame. Police said her stepfather, 36-year old Eddie Gilmer, was behind the wheel of the car the three teens were surfing on, and had been drinking.

Police said Gilmer was "brake checking" when the two girls careened off the front the car.

"Both these people lost their balance while he did that. They fell from the vehicle; they stopped faster than the car was able to stop. And they were eventually run over by the vehicle," said Gwinnett Police Cpl. Edwin Ritter.

"The one girl on the ground, she had the worst injuries. She was moaning and crying. She wanted to go home," said Martin.

Dame and a 21-year-old friend were transported to Gwinnett Medical Center.

Police said Nathaniel Pepper, the other person on the hood, who owns the car, wasn't seriously hurt. Police said Gilmer and his wife had provided alcohol to the three young adults, all under age 21.

'It's an extremely dangerous situation these people put themselves in. It was revolving around alcohol and partying," Ritter said.

Gilmer told Regan by phone that he wasn't the driver and that he was home at the time of the incident.