Bullfighter injured at Longview rodeo

LONGVIEW, TX (KLTV) - The dangerous job of protecting a bull-rider when he's thrown is the job of a bull-fighter, and an East Texas rodeo incident showed how dangerous
that job can be.

Bull-riding is always the signature event at any rodeo, but a moment at Saturday night's Longview PRCA rodeo captured by a fan had the crowd gasping.

"Everyone got quiet. I was taking some pictures. It looked like a pretty hard shot that he took, and I realized it was bad," said Jordan Harris who
shot video of the incident.
 
Bullfighter Scotty Spencer began moving in when he saw the rider fall, putting himself between the bull and the rider.

"They're unsung heroes of a rodeo. They jump in a save a lot of guys. When a guy gets bucked off or he rides it through, they are there to save them
from a bull running over them," said Julio Arriola of the Longview PRCA rodeo.

But he's trapped against the shoot gate.

"Scotty just happened to get pinned between the wall and the bull," Arriola says.

The spinning bull's legs come down with 2000 pounds of force on Spencer.
 
"I looked and I said he's hurt he ain't getting up," Harris says.
 
 EMT's immediately rendered aid. Though non-life threatening,  Spencer had gruesome injuries.
 
"His legs broken in three places, had surgery today. He had a little bit of a hip injury too. He's going to be out a while," says Arriola.
 
 But Spencer had a message for rodeo officials.
 
"I talked to him and he said he will be back. He'll come back and be right back in that position again," Arriola says.

Rodeo officials say Spencer is hospitalized with injuries that will take 6-to-8 weeks to recover from, but he also has a hip injury that could
sideline him for several months. He is expected to be released from the hospital by tomorrow.
 
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