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Small Community Of Rifle Mourns After Teen Dies From Car Surfing Fall

By Matt Kroschel

RIFLE, Colo. (CBS4) - A Western Slope teenager has died following a car surfing accident in the small town of Rifle.

According to the Garfield County coroner, Kyle Scholla was riding on a car driven by another teen in a Walmart parking lot when he fell off. He was airlifted to St. Mary's Hospital.

Kyle Scholla
Kyle Scholla (credit: Facebook)

The car surfing incident happened just after 10 p.m. on April 1. Scholla, 18, died from injuries suffered in the fall just after 1 p.m. April 9.

The teen driver was cited for careless driving resulting in injury. According to the district attorney, new charges may be considered after Scholla's death.

Police in Rifle say the driver and Scholla knew each other. There was no evidence of alcohol or drugs involved in the incident.

Car surfing is typically the act of riding on the hood or roof while the vehicle is in motion. Rifle Police Chief John Dyer told CBS4 he's going to start reaching out to other youth in the community to make sure they realize the true danger behind a stunt that can be so easily found on the Internet.

Kyle Scholla
Kyle Scholla (credit: CBS)

"In a small community anything like this is a huge tragedy," Dyer said. "It's amazing how something at the time that can be so innocent can turn so tragic so quickly."

A quick Search on YouTube shows just how popular car surfing can be.

"I've seen and heard of it in a lot of different places, and I've seen and heard some of the tragic consequences," Dyer said. "Like the rest of the community, we are in shock and we are in sadness, and really it's going to be up to us at this point to do what we can to help to make sure doesn't happen again."

Matt Kroschel covers news throughout Colorado working from the CBS4 Mountain Newsroom. Send story ideas to mrkroschel@cbs.com and connect with him on Twitter @Matt_Kroschel.

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