A 24-year-old man from San Clemente was critically injured while performing a dangerous off-road motorcycle stunt over train tracks in Simi Valley on Sunday, police said.
Officers responded to a report of a single-vehicle crash in the 500 block of West Los Angeles Avenue about 3:06 p.m., according to a Simi Valley Police Department news release.
The motorcyclist was attempting to jump an expanse across railroad tracks when something, at some point, went horribly wrong. The man was taken to a local hospital in critical but stable condition, police said.
The department was unaware of the stunt prior to the emergency aid call, but it appeared to have been planned ahead of time.
The motorcyclist learned about the “jump site” through social media, the release stated. He came with friends who were there to record the stunt.
Moorpark resident Colin Morrison – who performed the stunt about a decade ago – identified the man as Kyle Katsandris.
The motocross rider received attention after jaw-dropping video showed him jumping over all lanes of traffic on the 60 Freeway in Riverside County last month. As of Tuesday, the video had been viewed on his Instagram account nearly 180,000 times.
Caltrans blocked off access to the area after the 60 Freeway stunt came to light. It also sparked an investigation.
Morrison told KTLA in an interview Monday that Katsandris reached out to him before attempting the jump.
“He hit me up last week on Instagram, asking me about the jump, because he knew I was one of the guys who did it,” he said. “I told him what I thought … a lot of things can go wrong, but, he thought he could do it.”
According to Morrison, the jump is about 160 to 180 feet, and is done over train.
“If anything goes wrong, the consequences are really big,” he said. “If you come up a little bit short, or a little big long, you’re done.”
He said he felt “really horrible” when he learned that the stunt had gone wrong.
The extent of Katsandris’s injuries were not immediately known.
