Baltimore County Man Suffers Spinal Cord Injury After OCMD Body Surfing Accident On July 4th
OCEAN CITY, Md. (WJZ) -- A Baltimore County area man suffered a spinal cord injury after a body surfing accident in Ocean City, Maryland over the holiday weekend.
Ben Paepcke was enjoying the Fourth of July with friends, body surfing in front of a lifeguard stand, according to the Go Fund Me page set up by friends.. But when he dove into the water, he didn't come back up.
Ocean City Beach Patrol lifeguards went into the water to rescue him and stabilized his neck.
Family said Paepcke broke his neck at C5 and suffered a spinal cord injury. He was rushed to Shock Trauma where he is undergoing treatment.
Papecke graduated from Calvert Hall College in Towson in 2018 where he played lacrosse. He was also an athlete at Dulaney Valley High School.
His family continues to update Paepcke's progress on his Go Fund Me page.