12-foot Wedge spill may have paralyzed bodysurfer

A bodysurfer may be paralyzed after he wiped out and landed on his back at The Wedge on Friday morning, lifeguard officials said.

The man, whom lifeguards could not immediately identify, went over the top of a 12-foot wave and crashed to the ocean floor at about 9:15 a.m., Lifeguard Capt. Brent Renek said.

“He went over the falls, got caught in the lip and smashed into the bottom,” Renek said. “He said he heard cracking. He was incapacitated there in the surf and had other bodysurfers take him out of the water.”

The man, described as in his 40s, landed on his tailbone where he heard the crack, Renek said.

Lifeguards stabilized him on a backboard, officials said. He was taken to Santa Ana’s Western Medical Center, where doctors are looking into any possible spinal injuries, Renek said.

— Joseph Serna