Daredevil Dad Dies Trying to Break World Record

Motorcyclist Alex Harvill had just welcomed his second son
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 18, 2021 8:16 AM CDT
Daredevil Dad Dies Trying to Break World Record
Alex Harvill   (Moses Lake Airshow)

A daredevil practicing for a world record motorcycle jump died Thursday after he landed short and crashed. Alex Harvill, 28, had been trying to jump 352 feet, about the length of a football field, at the Moses Lake Airshow at Grant County International Airport in Washington state to break a world record set by Australia's Robbie Maddison in 2008. Harvill of Ephrata, Wash., had already claimed one Guinness World Record in 2013, with the longest dirt-to-dirt motorcycle ramp jump at 297 feet, per CNN. He was warming up for the record attempt—the first event of the airshow—when he landed short, crashing into the top edge of the dirt landing ramp. He was thrown over his handlebars and "tumbled dozens of feet before he finally came to a stop," per TMZ.

A witness tells KREM that the crash, in which the stuntman's helmet came off, was "traumatic" to watch. TMZ describes it as "absolutely horrifying." It took medical personnel 2.5 minutes to reach Harvill, whose second child was born only last month, according to the outlets. The stuntman was taken to a hospital but pronounced dead of his injuries. "Our deepest sympathies go out to Alex's family, friends and loved ones," Grant County Coroner Craig Morrison said in a Thursday statement. An autopsy is scheduled for Friday to confirm the manner of death, in what the Sheriff's Office said was "normal procedure." The airshow said it would donate all proceeds from the record attempt to cover Harvill's medical bills. Separately, more than $40,000 has been raised for the family. (More motorcycle crash stories.)

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