Matthew Stafford walks away from photographer who took scary stage fall at Rams parade
A photographer for the Rams is on the mend after she took a brutal fall at the team’s Super Bowl 2022 parade on Wednesday and fractured her spine – right in front of Matthew Stafford, who immediately walked away from the scene.
Kelly Smiley, who is also a photog for Crypto.com Arena, the L.A. Kings and Anaheim Ducks, was captured on video falling right in front of the Rams star quarterback and his wife Kelly.
In the clip, Stafford sees Smiley fall backwards off the team’s “Rams House” stage and quickly turns and walks away, appearing to say “oh my god” as he does. Meanwhile, his wife appeared stunned and walked towards Smiley.
In a longer video of the entire parade posted to YouTube, it appeared that Kelly had handed her phone to Smiley to take a photo of the couple. Smiley fell backwards as she was preparing to take the picture.
It’s unclear what happened in the moments after the fall, but Smiley took to social media to explain her injury.
Some online were critical of Stafford’s reaction.
“How do you watch a person fall like that and just walk away?” tweeted WBZ news anchor Liam Martin.
“I unfortunately fractured my spine today,” she wrote over a video on her Instagram story that showed her wearing a back brace while at a hospital.
“Feeling ok. Staying the night in the trauma center. Thank you everyone for reaching out.”
Smiley also promoted a GoFundMe page started by her friend that was titled, “Help Kelly Get Back On Her Feet.”
The page explains that Smiley took a “heavy fall off the stage while covering the event” in L.A. to celebrate the Rams’ 23-20 win over the Bengals in Super Bowl 56 on Sunday.
The funds raised will will cover Smiley’s medical expenses, as well as replace the camera that was “severely damaged” due to her fall, according to the page.
