The Sarasota County Sheriff’s office released video of the eight-person pyramid tumbling down.
A disturbing video of a high-wire accident involving the famed Wallenda family has been released.
The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office released video of the eight-person pyramid tumbling down more than 20 feet on Feb. 8, 2017, at Circus Sarasota in Florida. Five members of the Wallenda family were injured during the fall while practicing for an upcoming show, according to authorities.
It is not clear who shot the video, police said.
Nik Wallenda, 40, the most famous of the family, wasn’t injured. He was part of the stunt, though.
The accident happened two days before the Circus Sarasota’s “Synergy Show.”
“They lost their balance. It’s all about balance on the high wire. … Nothing to do with the rigging,” Pedro Reis, the CEO of the Circus Conservatory, told WTSP.
Nik’s sister, Lijana, was a late addition to the act, and the video shows she was the first one to topple over, according to reports. She reportedly broke every bone in her face.
Nik’s aunt Rietta is suffering from a very bad limp now and one of her legs is now shorter than the other, Rietta’s mother told the Herald Tribune.
Nik had reportedly argued about the release of the video because he told the paper he did not want his sister to have to relive the trauma.
“I’ve had nightmares since I was a child seeing video of my great-grandfather falling, and it’s sort of haunted me my whole career,” Nik said. “So now it’s even more personal because it involves me, and it’s my sister who went through this. And I don’t want her to have to go through this mentally.”
Nik ’s great-grandfather, Karl, fell to his death during a televised sky walk in Puerto Rico in 1978. Two other family members died during a pyramid stunt in 1962.
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