Teen Critical After Jumping From Moving SUV on Dare

200 Ill. teens played the stunts-for-cash game
By Ambreen Ali,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 25, 2008 12:36 PM CST

An Illinois grand jury is investigating a scavenger hunt that left a 17-year-old in critical condition after he jumped from a Dodge Durango moving at 25mph. As many as 200 teenagers were apparently competing for cash by performing stunts and videotaping them last Friday. Erik Nava's team was winning the game, the Chicago Sun-Times reports, which also included pelting the elderly with muffins and getting kicked in the groin.

The 16-year-old driver says she planned to slow down before the stunt, but Nava jumped out unexpectedly, hitting gravel rather than grass. If he did so voluntarily, "it's probably not a crime," the state attorney says. Students say the peculiar game is a 3-year tradition and participants each put $5 into the prize pool. (More teenager stories.)

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