DALTON, Ga. — A teenager is in critical condition after he was injured Thursday night while “car surfing,” and the driver was arrested.

Miguel Angel Gomez, 18, of Standifer Road in Cohutta, was charged with reckless conduct. He has since been released on bond. The victim, Juan Lopez, 19, was taken to Hamilton Medical Center then airlifted to Erlanger hospital in Chattanooga with serious head injuries.

The Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office responded to a serious injury incident in a subdivision off Cleveland Highway Thursday night at about 9:30. The responding officer arrived to Beulah Drive and found Gomez sitting in the middle of the road holding Lopez, who was unconscious and bleeding. The deputy gave aid to the victim until emergency medical responders arrived.

Gomez and Lopez are friends. They had just dropped another friend off at a home in the subdivision. While they were at the home, Lopez and Gomez started “horse playing” around the vehicle. As Gomez started to leave in the 2003 Ford Focus, the person they dropped off stayed at the home, but Lopez jumped on the trunk of the car and was “car surfing” as Gomez drove on Beulah Drive. Gomez was believed to be driving about 30 mph when Lopez fell off the trunk of the car and struck the pavement.