A woman is recovering from an arm and wrist injury after she was knocked to the ground by a large chunk of falling ice at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis on Sunday.
Judy Babcock, who was standing at a distance from the frozen peaks, captured the scary moment on video.
Minneapolis Park and Recreation authorities said the 20-year-old woman was hit in the head by the ice.
“The frozen falls are a beautiful, beautiful sight. Unfortunately, it’s not safe,” park board spokesperson Robin Smothers told CBS-affiliate WCCO.
According to Smothers, the area under the frozen falls is barricaded off with a “No Trespassing” sign due to safety concerns. Despite the frozen exterior, flowing water below the ice makes it unstable.
“This has been going on for decades,” said Smothers. “People are going to the falls, going behind the falls, but with social media it causes more and more people to take pictures, selfies of themselves and their friends.”
A quick search on Instagram shows several images of people getting close to the frozen falls.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPBNiRDB65T/
Babcock told WCCO that she saw a group of people climb down to the restricted area.
“There were people there with little kids – six, seven year olds – that were going up behind the falls,” she said.
WCCO reported that park police issued seven trespassing tickets over the weekend and gave over 100 verbal warnings to park visitors.
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