A teenage girl has spoken out after suffering serious injuries when a family friend pushed her off a bridge into the water below.
Video footage shows 16-year-old Jordan Holgerson standing at the edge of the bridge in Washington in her togs, about to back out of a jump. Someone then pushes her from behind, sending her plunging down into the water 18 metres below at the base of Moulton Falls.
The teenager lands on her chest, breaking five ribs, puncturing both lungs and bruising her oesophagus.
Jordan tells media she's in a lot of pain without medication, and says all she was thinking when she felt herself falling was what to do next.
"I tried to push myself straight so my feet would hit first. That didn't work.
"In the air I think I might have fainted, but when I was in the water I was awake and aware. I couldn't breathe."
Jordan says she knows the person who pushed her, and they have apologised.
Washington trauma surgeon MaryClare Sarf tells NBC affiliate KGW she could have died.
"When someone falls from a distance three times his or her height there is a 50 percent chance the person dies. Holgerson's fall was much greater than three times her height.
"When you're falling from that height, the water is like concrete."
Moulton Falls is a popular jumping spot, though signage warns people against it.
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