HORSESHOE BEND, ID. (THECOUNT) — Justin Boer, the Idaho paraglider who became partially paralyzed during a paragliding accident in 2013, was identified as the man killed in a paraglider crash on Monday.
Boer, 38, the co-owner of the Horseshoe Bend Flight Park, was killed in the crash near the facility on Monday.
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Boise County Sheriff Department says Boer was pronounced dead at the scene.
The cause of the crash has not yet been determined but investigators believe the paraglider malfunctioned in some way, reports DemocratHerald.
Boer, originally from Bend, Oregon, was partially paralyzed in a paragliding crash in 2013 but returned to the sport. He opened the flight park with partner Scott Edwards in 2017, offering equipment rentals, tandem flights and lessons to those interested in paragliding, hang gliding and speedflying.
Via EcoScience:
“I started skydiving in late 2008, and somehow that quickly progressed into Paragliding, Speedflying and BASE Jumping,” says Justin, a former structural designer.
An event happened in 2013 while flying a high performance wing and that changed his life forever. While swooping down to skim a pond before his landing, “a chain of events caused me to make a low turn. In short, spiraled down too low and too quick which resulted in me impacting the bank of the pond at about 60mph, then I bounced into the water. I did what any normal person would do, swim. I felt a gnarly crack and pop as I kicked my legs and feet for the last time.” The movement after impact caused a spinal injury and completely disconnected his lower body, leaving him basically paralyzed from the waist down. “The accident shattered my sacrum, broke my pelvis and L4/L5 vertebrae”.
After two months of full-time assisted recovery at the University of Utah, Justin adjusted his life to focus on a 100% full recovery. This recovery has taken years and Justin is still in the process.
Geo quick facts: Horseshoe Bend is the largest city in rural Boise County, in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. Its population of 707 at the 2010 census was the largest in the county, though down from 770 in 2000. It is part of the Boise City–Nampa, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area – Wikipedia.