The Anoka County Sheriff's Office has identified the teenager critically injured while "car surfing" in Columbia Heights.

Andrew Jonny Green, 17, of Columbia Heights fell off the hood of the moving car about 10 p.m. Tuesday in the 2100 block of Forest Drive, a residential neighborhood just east of Highland Lake, authorities said. The car was moving about 20 miles per hour.

Adrian Durand, who lives on the block, said the boy who suffered critical injuries is his nephew's friend. The teens were hanging out Tuesday evening at his nephew's home, who lives a few doors down from Durand. Durand said the teen is in a medically-induced coma.

"They are not the type of kids that would ordinarily get into that type of thing," Durand said.

After the boy hit the road, police arrived and the injured teen was taken by emergency responders to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, where he was listed in critical condition Thursday afternoon, Sommer said.

According to scanner audio, the 17-year-old male had a seizure on top of the car, fell off the vehicle and was unconscious.

Everyone in the group of teens is under 18 years old, and no citations have been issued or charges filed, the commander said.

"The case will be reviewed by the county attorney's office for consideration of charges," Sommer said, who added there is no indication that alcohol played a role in the incident.

Car surfing has been a thrill sought by teens and young adults for years in the United States. Videos posted online show riders standing or lying on vehicle roofs.

In the most recent federal data, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an analysis of news media reports that identified 58 car-surfing deaths and 41 people injured from 1990 to August 2008. The agency added that most car-surfing reports came from the Midwest and the South and that most involved males ages 15 to 19.

STAFF REPORTS