Businessman suffers horrific injuries after torrent of water surged through West Hollywood street

A catastrophic Los Angeles water main break is now being blamed for leaving a prominent West Hollywood businessman with a life-altering spinal cord injury after he fell on a muddy, waterlogged street.

RJ Holguin, owner of My 12 Step Store and RJDesign LA, said he was trying to deal with the fallout from the July 16 water main disaster when the accident happened.

The massive rupture of a 110-year-old, 36-inch trunk line near Sunset Boulevard and Holloway Drive unleashed roughly 17 million gallons of water, swallowing streets, opening a giant sinkhole, and flooding homes and underground parking garages across the neighborhood.

After learning his building’s garage had flooded, Holguin retrieved his car and parked it near his business.

Hours later, around 11:30 p.m., he was walking through a marked crosswalk on Santa Monica Boulevard when he spotted a car approaching that he believed might not stop.

He jumped backward to avoid the vehicle but lost his footing on what he told the WeHo Times was a wet, muddy roadway left in the wake of the water main break.

Holguin said he immediately felt “an electric shock” shoot through his body before blacking out.

When he regained consciousness, he struggled to speak and had little feeling in his hands, according to the WeHo Times.

Doctors later determined he had suffered injuries to the C3 through C6 vertebrae that compressed his spinal cord, causing central cord syndrome, a condition that can rob patients of movement and sensation, particularly in the hands and arms, the WeHo Times reported.

After surgery, Holguin was transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation unit, where he is undergoing physical and speech therapy.

“It’s a challenge and a struggle, but I made some good progress,” he told KTLA. “It’s going to be a slow progress back, but I will get there.”

The injury dealt another crushing blow to Holguin, who had already spent years recovering from a previous vocal cord injury.

“It set me back almost 16 years of work trying to repair the damage that had been done previously,” he said.

Despite the setback, Holguin said he’s grateful to have survived and thankful for the support from friends, loved ones and the West Hollywood community.

City crews spent days repairing the damage from the infrastructure failure before reopening Sunset Boulevard to traffic on July 24.

The water main break was followed by a smaller, unrelated pipe leak on Santa Monica Boulevard on July 23, though officials said additional lane closures will still be needed for permanent repaving.

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