EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (1010 WINS) — A 24-year-old Long Island man serving in the Maryland Air National Guard died after falling while snowboarding at an indoor slope at New Jersey's American Dream Mall.
Peter Mathews, 24, was snowboarding down a hill at the Big Snow American Dream when he fell backward, struck his head, became unconscious and had problems breathing, his sister Sarah Mathews told Newsday.
She said a friend who is a registered nurse, along with EMTs at the facility, performed CPR, including chest compressions. He was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead that night.
Matthews, an Airman First Class, joined the National Guard in 2020, earned the Air Force Achievement Medal earlier this year for an exercise in which he "mobilized with his squadron and A-10C Thunderbolt II aircraft from the 104th Fighter Squadron to support two US Army Europe-led exercises in Eastern Europe," according to a Facebook post from the Maryland Air Force base where he was assigned.
An autopsy will determine his cause of death. His sister said Mathews was wearing a helmet and other safety gear at the time of the accident.
In a statement to the outlet, Big Snow confirmed the death and said that their "thoughts are with this guest’s family at this time."
U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Jeffrey Galabiehs, the 175th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron senior enlisted leader, said Mathews "was genuinely an amazing person, and his smile lit up the room."
"If you had a chance to talk to him, you knew instantly he had a remarkable future and was destined for greatness," he said in a statement.
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