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Cold Water Challenge Sends A Sturgis Man To The Hospital

Posted at 11:45 AM, Apr 26, 2014
and last updated 2014-04-26 11:45:15-04
Cold Water

Courtesy: FOX 28

STURGIS, Mich. (April 26, 2014)- An outdoor trend known as the Cold Water Challenge has landed a St. Joseph County, Michigan man in the hospital. 

The Cold Water Challenge involves a person calling out individuals who must either give money to a charity or jump into a chilly lake, river or stream. The videos are posted on social media sites where the person diving in the water challenges more people and the cycle begins again. 

Tommy Smith was nominated by a fellow church member.  He dove into Grey Lake at around six on Wednesday night. Witnesses say the water was very shallow where he went in and that resulted in Smith getting injured.  Deedee Taylor was at Grey Lake with her son, Jordan, when Smith decided to go into the water.  Then they noticed that Smith was in trouble. “As soon as I pulled him up, he gasped for air and then started saying he couldn’t feel his body parts,” Taylor said.

Jordan Taylor thought Smith was trying to play a joke on the people standing at shore by not coming up from the water right away. “I thought he was playing until about 30 or 40 seconds and he didn’t come up,” he said. He says he knew something was wrong when Smith was brought to shore and was screaming. “I was shocked,” Jordan Taylor said. 

Click here for the rest of the story from FOX 28