BMX pro TJ Lavin in coma after Dew Tour crash at Hard Rock

By Sarah Feldberg

Friday, Oct. 15, 2010 | 8:53 a.m.

Local BMX pro TJ Lavin is in a medically induced coma this morning after crashing Thursday evening during a BMX dirt qualifying run at the Dew Tour Championships at the Hard Rock Hotel. Doctors induced the coma after Lavin was brought to the intensive care unit at University Medical Center with a small brain bleed and broken wrist.

"He is doing OK," said Lavin's manager, Chas Aday, via text message Friday morning. "They just repeated the CT scan — no better, no worse." Aday added that Lavin would undergo an MRI on Friday.

A Las Vegas native, Lavin was an X Games champion in the late '90s and was out of the running for this year's top spot.

His crash occurred on the Tour's first day while Lavin was attempting a trick called a nac-nac in which the rider swings one leg backward to the opposite side of the bike. According to ESPN.com, Lavin landed without getting his feet back on to the pedals after the trick and, as a result, was thrown from the bike, suffering injuries and losing consciousness.

Lavin was well aware of the dangers of his sport. On October 13, local rider Ty Pinney crashed while practicing at Lavin's Las Vegas home and was put in intensive care with swelling in his brain. On Oct. 14, Lavin tweeted "@HORRORPROJECT Ty update: the swelling in his brain is going down faster than expected He's not out of the woods yet but it is looking better!" Later that day, Lavin suffered his own serious crash.

The Dew Tour Championships will continue today with BMX-park preliminary rounds from 3:30-6 p.m. and skate-park finals inside the Joint from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The BMX dirt finals, the event in which Lavin was to compete, are scheduled for Saturday from 7:30-8:30 p.m.