Freak Snowboarding Accident Kills Bay Area Woman

An Oakland woman and U.C. Santa Cruz student died over the weekend in a freak snowboarding accident in Tahoe.

Placer County Sheriff's Capt. Jeff Ausnow said 22-year-old Rahsheka Keith died after she crashed into a ski lift tower on Saturday at the Granlibakken Resort on Tahoe's west shore.

Ausnow said an autopsy is still being done, but that it appears Keith died of blunt force trauma.

Witnesses said she was sitting on her snowboard like it was a sled. She somehow became turned around was facing uphill before sliding back into the tower.

Keith was not wearing a helmet.

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