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Skier accused of trying to jump crowd at Copper pond-skim event pleads guilty

Sawyer D’Argonne
Summit Daily
Hayden Wright of Anchorage, Alaska skis into the crowd in the Red Bull Slopesoakers pond skimming competition on Saturday, April 14 at Copper Mountain Resort. Wright collided with several spectators who were watching the event on the side of the course behind the fence, though both Wright and the spectators walked away on their own power from the incident.
Hugh Carey/Summit Daily

The skier accused of trying to jump the crowd at Copper Mountain’s Annual Slopesoakers pond-skimming event earlier this year pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and no contest to a misdemeanor assault charge earlier this month.

Hayden Patrick Wright, 27, was descending on a run in the early afternoon of April 14 when he flew off the pond-skim course and into the crowd, breaking a woman’s collarbone and injuring several others.

While it remains unclear whether or not Wright tried to jump the crowd on purpose — witnesses after the incident said Wright announced his intentions while holding a drink earlier that morning, though a woman, described as his girlfriend in court documents, said he was joking and launched into the crowd on accident — his behavior was reckless enough to spur charges from the District Attorney’s Office.



Wright pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor reckless endangerment charge, and no contest to a misdemeanor third degree assault charge to which he received a two year deferred judgment and sentence, according to court documents.

In addition to upwards of $1,000 in court fees, Wright’s judgment also includes 120 hours of useful public service, 10 days in jail by the end of the year and prohibitions from alcohol and non-prescribed drugs. His deferred judgment and sentence will end in August 2020, though only the first year will be supervised.

Crime


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