Three young men turned the median of one of Ocala’s busiest commercial roads into a makeshift barbershop Sunday night, with one getting a haircut, another working the clippers, and a third recording it for social media.
With his back toward traffic, the young man cutting hair did not see the trouble developing behind him until screeching tires made him turn around. A Chevrolet Silverado and Lexus were colliding beside them, and the pickup struck the 18-year-old on the median.
The collision knocked the others around, leaving one to describe “pancakes, flapjacks, flying” before he made his way back toward the wreck and found his friend lying in the street.
The 18-year-old was taken to a hospital in serious condition, while the phone recording their haircut may have caught a very different ending to the video.
The TikTok Barbershop
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Ocala Police said first responders were called around 8:10 p.m. Sept. 27 to the 2500 block of Southwest College Road, also known as State Road 200.
A Chevrolet Silverado 3500 traveling west collided with a Lexus SUV entering the intersection from Ocala West Plaza. Police said that “due to the crash,” the Silverado struck the 18-year-old standing on the median.
Neither driver showed signs of impairment, and investigators are still working to determine what caused the collision.
As officers pieced together the scene, they learned that the injured pedestrian and two other young adults had been filming a social-media video while giving him a haircut.
Ocala content creator and local news reporter Yaj Lerom heard about the crash and went to the scene, where he filmed the aftermath and spoke with the other two members of the group.
“We were sitting right there, and I was giving my boy a haircut,” one told Lerom.
Focused on his friend’s hair with his back toward the approaching collision, he remembered hearing “a whole bunch of cars” and tires screeching before he turned around.
“As soon as I look back, car hitting. Next thing you know, pancakes, flapjacks, flying,” he said. “It’s not even funny. Flying.”
After being knocked around, he made his way toward the wreck and saw his friend lying in the street. First responders transported the 18-year-old to a local hospital, leaving the other two knowing where their friend had been taken but little about his condition.
Their third friend had been recording from a different angle and, the pair said, may have seen the collision before the person cutting hair turned around. With the phone already recording as the tires began screeching, their original haircut video may also contain part of the crash.
By Monday night, WESH reported that the 18-year-old was stable.
A Few Blocks Down College Road
Five months earlier, another social-media stunt unfolded along Southwest College Road when two 18-year-olds began filming inside businesses along the same commercial corridor.
At a Culver’s, one walked into the restaurant carrying a leaf blower while his friend recorded. After employees told them to leave, the pair returned to College Road the following day with a riding lawnmower.
One teen drove the mower through the automatic doors of the Target at 2000 Southwest College Road and continued riding through the store while his friend filmed, until employees intervened.
Ocala Police later arrested both teens.