Circus trapeze artist hurt in W. Philadelphia fall

A 19-year-old trapeze artist was injured after falling Saturday during a UniverSoul Circus show in West Philadelphia.

The show identified him as Chenglong Wu, a performer with the Wuhan Flying Trapeze act of China. Police said he fell 30 feet from his apparatus and was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition. UniverSoul said Wu suffered a lower-back injury and was expected to make a full recovery.

Fateemah Daniels, 27, of South Philadelphia, said she was at the 4 p.m. show in the 2,000-person-capacity tent set up on the 5200 block of Parkside Avenue. The man had fallen into a safety net once before, after another performer did not catch him, Daniels said. When he flew through the air a second time, his partner caught and dropped him, Daniels said. This time, he bounced out of the net and landed in the crowd, she said.

"He definitely fell on somebody," she said. No injuries were reported, according to preliminary police information.

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