Woman Who Shoved Friend Off Bridge Pleads Guilty, May Dodge Jail

A woman has pleaded guilty to pushing her 16-year-old friend from a bridge at a popular swimming area near Vancouver, a shove that became infamous when video of the incident went viral.

Taylor Smith, 19, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless endangerment Monday in Clark County District Court.

Smith pushed her friend Jordan Holgerson (pictured below) off the bridge Aug. 7 at Moulton Falls, which is northeast of Portland just over the Washington state border. Video of the push, posted on YouTube, went viral. Holgerson suffered six broken ribs and punctured her lungs as a result of the more-than-50-foot plunge. 

"She wanted to jump and she was scared and she had asked me to give her a push, and I didn't think about the consequences," Smith told "Good Morning America" last year. "I thought she would be fine."

She added that she had apologized several times.

"I love that girl," Smith said. "I never intended to hurt her ever, nor would I intend to hurt anyone. I'm really sorry it turned out that way. I just pray that she heals and gets better."

The two stopped communicating after the incident.

Holgerson told local outlet KATU not long after the fall that her Smith was counting down but she didn’t “think anything of it."

“And I was like, 'No, don’t count down. Like, I won’t go if you count down. I’m not ready.' And then she pushed me."

Taylor Smith pushed her friend Jordan Holgerson off a bridge, leading to an over 50-foot fall, broken ribs and punctured lungs.

Holgerson said she hopes her former friend “learns something” from the experience.

Prosecutors are recommending no jail time when Smith is sentenced later this month. Reckless endangerment can be punishable by up to a year in jail.

Outside the courtroom, Genelle Holgerson, Jordan's mother, said she and her daughter want this chapter of their lives to be over. She is also not happy about the fact that they have to wait for a sentence.

"We wanted a guilty plea,” she told ABC News. We just wanted a sentence too."

Last year at a press conference about the incident, trauma surgeon Mary Clare Sarff said Holgerson was lucky to be alive after the fall.

"When you fall three times your height, 50 percent of people will die. That's usually about 25 feet," Sarff said, according to The Oregonian. "When you're falling from [60 feet on water], that's like falling on concrete. She could have broken her neck, she could have been a quadriplegic."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.