Painful footage has emerged which shows the moment a pedestrian was struck by a falling dumbbell.
The dumbbell was accidentally dropped out of an apartment building window by a woman who’d been cleaning her flat, whacking a 36-year-old woman called Ms Li on the back of the head.
You can watch the frightening CCTV footage for yourself below:
The footage, captured June 22, shows Ms Li being hit by the weight plate as she walked close to Shenzhen Metro’s Nanshan station in South China’s Guangdong Province.
Ms Li could be seen collapsing to the floor, clutching her head in agony. Somewhat surprisingly, she stayed conscious after the weight made contact with her head.
Moments after the incident, which happened outside a tower block in the Guangcai New Century Homeland Residential District, witnesses could be seen rushing to Ms Li’s side to check if she was okay.
Following her ordeal, Ms Li was taken to hospital with a bleeding scalp. Thankfully, she was found not to be in any serious condition and is currently being monitored for brain damage.
Investigators have since called 32-year-old homeowner Ms Wang in for questioning. Ms Wang had apparently been cleaning her high-rise apartment at the time, when she accidentally dropped the weight plate from the window.
At the time of writing, it remains unclear exactly how many tower block floors the weight plummeted from. The height would of course have affected the terminal velocity speed of the weight, and therefore the impact on Ms Li’s head.
According to a 2010 Universe Today article, terminal velocity speed also depends on the weight of the object in question, which in this case looks pretty heavy:
The terminal velocity speed changes depending on the weight of the object falling, its surface area and what it’s falling through. For example, a feather doesn’t weigh much and presents a very large surface area to the air as it falls.
So its terminal velocity speed is much slower than a rock with the same weight. This is why an ant can fall off a tall building and land unharmed, while a similar fall would kill you.
Although this isn’t the sort of thing that happens everyday, this doesn’t make it any less scary. Those who have seen the footage have expressed terror at the thought of something similar happening to them.
Panicked social media user Shevon Hu wrote: ‘Do we need to start wearing helmets while walking outside?’
Fortunately, Ms Li has escaped severe injury but this freak accident could have proven far more serious.
UNILAD wishes Ms Li a full recovery following her terrible shock.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.