Teen skateboarder improving after Clearfield accident


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CLEARFIELD — A 13-year-old skateboarder who was pinned underneath a car for 15 minutes Wednesday night was showing signs of improvement Thursday.

By Thursday afternoon, a Facebook page showing support for Sheldon Shaffer had been created. Several people left well-wishes on the page, encouraging him to get better.

"Get better fast. We're all here to support you," one person wrote.

"I don't know you, but get better man," wrote another.

The teen was out of surgery at 4 a.m. and in serious but stable condition, said Clearfield Assistant Police Chief Mike Stenquist.

About 7 p.m. Wednesday, Shaffer was skateboarding near 1100 South and 1000 East when he fell off his board and was struck by a vehicle driven by a 69-year-old woman. The car rolled on top of the boy. It took crews about 15 minutes to get the car off, Stenquist said.

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Responding officers called out to neighbors and anyone else who was nearby to help them support the vehicle with bricks, wood and other materials as they lifted it.

Alisha Ramos lives in the neighborhood and witnessed the rescue. She was awakened by screams when Sheldon was hit, including those of her own sons, and was shocked by what she saw when she rushed out her front door.

"He was folded so bad under that car. I just didn't realize it was a kid," Ramos said.

"I just jumped underneath the car and just was talking to him until the paramedics got there," she said, recounting how her neighbors went house to house and stopped passing cars looking for something to raise the car. "They were just trying to shimmy up enough to get the car up so it didn't come back down on him."


They were just trying to shimmy up enough to get the car up so it didn't come back down on him.

–Alisha Ramos, eyewitness


Sheldon kept repeating "it burns" as he asked about his injured leg, which Ramos said appeared to be folded beneath him, but he remained coherent enough to give his name and phone number.

Ramos tried to keep the boy calm by telling him she was the mother of other boys in the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, the woman who hit Sheldon was "freaking out," Ramos said.

"She couldn't believe it had happened," Ramos said. "To my understanding, it was an accident. There was no time."

Two neighbors tried to calm the woman and contact her family while others tended to Sheldon.

A medical helicopter soon landed on the street and Sheldon was flown to Primary Children's Medical Center.

"It just all happened so fast," Ramos said.

Contributing: Andrew Wittenberg

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