Matthew Stafford criticized for walking away from photographer who fell and broke spine

While making an appearance at the LA Rams parade on Wednesday, quarterback Matthew Stafford seemingly walked away after watching a photographer fall from the stage and injure herself.

A viral video circulated by @LoganTheHammer shows Stafford and his wife, Kelly, standing with sports photographer Kelly Smiley when suddenly Smiley slips and falls several feet from the stage.

The Stafford's jaws drop as they watch Smiley fall, Stafford says something in his wife's direction, takes a swig of water, then walks away. Meanwhile, Kelly Stafford walks toward Smiley to make sure the photographer is ok.

It is unclear if Stafford returned to Smiley's aid later on or went to seek help but the photographer revealed in a Twitter post that she had fractured her spine and broke her camera equipment from the fall.

Sign up for our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

In an Instagram story, Smiley said she was staying the night in the trauma center but felt ok.

Smiley's friend set up a GoFundMe to help with medical expenses and replace her broken equipment.

The video was picked up by Barstool Sports gaining over 3 million views within the first 24 hours. Many of the video viewers criticized Stafford's seemingly disregard for Smiley's dangerous fall.

However, others came to Stafford's defense and said the quarterback went to get help backstage.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.