Woman urges caution on E-scooters following accident

PHOENIX (FOX 10) -- E-scooters are a popular way to get around these days, but one woman wants people to think twice before riding.

The woman was badly injured and had to spend three nights in the hospital.

Sarah O'Keefe She said she doesn't want any compensation, and she is not trying to sue the scooter company. She just wants to educate people about the dangers of the popular scooters, after her hospital stay and having to shell out $15,000 for out-of-pocket medical costs.

For O'Keefe, it was supposed to be a fun afternoon showing a friend around Scottsdale. Instead, it turned into quite the painful ordeal.

"Got onto the scooter, was on it for not even five minutes and either hit an imperfection in the road or a rock or something like that, and lost balance and then flew off of it forward," said O'Keefe. "It was my face that took the brunt of everything. At both of my joints, my jaw had sheared off a piece at each joint, and so that required jaw surgery and then I, of course, had stitches in different parts of my face."

O'Keefe had to spend three nights in the hospital, undergoing painful surgery to re-set her jaw, and had to live with her jaw wired shut for six weeks.

"I'm getting more and more people who are injured because of an E-scooter," said Marc Lamber with Fennemore Craig.

Lamber said these types of injuries aren't uncommon, and a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control backs up those claims.

"200 accident injures. Almost 50% were head injuries," said Lamber. "15% of those head injuries were traumatic brain injuries, which typically means a bleeding in the brain. When you're using your mobile app, you're signing something that is called a liability release, and what it effectively says if they do anything wrong, they're not responsible."

As for O'Keefe, she says she's sharing her story in hopes it prevents someone else from getting hurt.

"I wish I would have known the dangers of it that day," said O'Keefe. "Something that I thought was really innocent, a small choice I made had a huge impact on my life for the next few months and still into the future."