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

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.