Claim: Michael Vick broke both his legs in an automobile accident.
Example:[Collected via e-mail, September 2012]
PRO FOOTBALL NEWS:
Michael Vick Breaks Both Legs In Car Accident
THIS STORY IS STILL DEVELOPING...
Philadelphia October 2, 2012 30 minutes ago...
A spokesperson for the Philadelphia highway safety authority (HSA) has confirmed that Michael Vick has broken both of his legs in a traffic altercation. He has been transported via ambulance to a local Philadelphia hospital for treatment, and the full extent of his injuries are not known at this time, however, both of his legs were visibly broken and not life threatening according to sources.
The accident involved a 2012 BMW driven by Michael Vick and a 76 year old female driver in a 2010 Audi. The driver of the Audi was issued a citation for failing to stop at a red light before striking the vehicle driven by Michael Vick at a high rate of speed.
Team spokespersons could not be reached for comment at this time.
Additional details and information will be updated as it becomes available. This story is still developing
Origins: Web sites such as mediafetcher.com provide web templates that allow users to generate phony news stories about celebrities being injured or killed in various forms of accidents by plugging the names of famous people and locations into the URLs used to access the site. For example, visiting http://tim.tebow.mediafetcher.com/news/top_stories/football_car_crash.php?location=Seattle produces a fake article about Tim Tebow's breaking both his legs today in an automobile accident in Seattle.
Every few months another one of these faux user-generated articles is circulated on the Internet to fool the unwary, generating a brief but intense tragedy hoax for the named celebrity. In September 2012 the latest "victim" of this form of hoax was Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, whose legs currently remain intact.
