13-year-old skateboarder’s death inspires Washington mom to fight helmet ‘stigma’

After losing her 13-year-old son to a head injury, a Washington mother hopes to change the stigma surrounding helmets in the skateboarding community, according to media reports.

Larae Crossley’s son Berrett died March 6 after suffering a traumatic brain injury in a skateboarding accident, an obituary says. He was not wearing a helmet.

“As someone who has lost a child because of this, that pain is something I don’t want anyone to feel,” Crossley told KING.

Berrett fell from his skateboard at the Buckley skatepark March 2, according to The Courier-Herald. Two days later, he suffered a subdural hematoma (brain bleeding) and was taken to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma, the news site reported.

Despite an emergency surgery, Berrett did not recover. Had he been wearing a helmet, Berrett would have survived, doctors told Crossley, according to KING.

On March 8, his family did an Honor Walk “as he was taken to surgery for organ donation,” Crossley posted on Facebook.

Berrett’s donation “immediately” saved four lives, the post said.

“My boy was put on this earth to save my life, and in his 13 years of life he touched so many lives, and in the end he saved countless more,” Crossley wrote. “My son was an instrument of God. He was put on this earth to make it a better place, and that is what he did.”

Crossley hopes Berrett’s death will inspire action and help to rid the skateboarding community of its anti-helmet stigma, according to KING.

“It’s a stigma of, ‘I don’t want to look uncool,’” Crossley told the TV station. “I want to break that stigma. No one’s too cool for brain damage.”

Just three days after Berrett’s death, the Buckley City Council began discussing an ordinance that would require helmets at the skatepark, according to The Courier-Herald. The council will consider the proposal at its Tuesday meeting, the news site reports.

“Washington doesn’t have a state law requiring helmets for bicycling or use of other small wheeled devices[,] such as skateboards,” Barb Chamberlain, Director of the Active Transportation Division for the Washington Department of Transportation, told McClatchy News in an email.

Some cities and counties have implemented helmet requirements, including Puyallup, Lakewood, Eatonville, Spokane, King County, etc., the Washington Department of Transportation says.

State Rep. Dan Griffey, who serves the 35th legislative district (Mason, plus parts of Kitsap and Thurston counties), hopes the tragedy will push lawmakers to re-approve a $20,000 grant that would allow first-responders to buy and distribute helmets to kids across the state, KING reported.

“I’ve seen way too many kiddos pass away,” Griffey told the TV station. “I don’t want to see any more family tragedies, and if we can really just change the mindset is what we have to do.”

Berrett’s family and friends started a foundation “Wear it for Berrett,” which raises money and spreads awareness of the benefits of wearing a helmet.

This story was originally published March 23, 2021 at 1:56 PM with the headline "13-year-old skateboarder’s death inspires Washington mom to fight helmet ‘stigma’."