Rock gig crowd surfer smashed my spine

Paris hospital discharged mum without proper checks, Injuries linked to strokes & she now needs wheelchair

- JONATHAN BLACKBURN

A MUM left in a wheelchair after being crushed by a falling crowd surfer while watching her favourite band is calling for live venues to be made safer.

Kimberley Alexander, from Cumbernauld, travelled to Paris in 2022 to see My Chemical Romance, but was left with severe spinal injuries after being crushed between the barrier and the crowd surfer.

The mum of three was pulled over the barrier by security staff but was dropped, splitting her head open.

The 42-year-old awoke in a French hospital the next day and was discharged without three spinal injuries being identified. She has since suffered two strokes believed to be related to the injuries and has to use a wheelchair.

Kimberley was travelling back to Scotland after watching the US group in Milton Keynes when a friend called to say he had a spare ticket for the emo band’s show at the Accor Arena in Paris the next week. She found £30 flights and flew to meet her friend, with a cardboard cutout of lead singer Gerard Way in tow.

They queued all day to be at the front of the second row of barriers, with a clear view of the band.

She said: “Even before the gig started, there was this big guy, he was towering above everyone else. He was obviously intoxicated and he was pushing everybody over.