Did a University of Georgia student really fall nine stories out of his dorm room window on Sunday — and survive?
That was what some students have speculated in several local news stories, despite, campus police said, the absence of any witnesses or the student's own explanation.
One of the student's dorm mates at Russell Hall, a freshman dorm, suggested such a possibility in an interview with the Athens Banner-Herald.
"He couldn’t remember anything, so we just started putting everything together like the screen kicked out and one of his shoes down there, and his pants were ripped and his sock was dirty,” the dorm mate told the paper. “We think what happened, based on that, is ... sometime between 4 and 8 (a.m.) he wanted to get out of his room and just kicked out the (window) screen and fell or jumped."
The student had a black eye and difficulty moving, his dorm mate told the Banner.
In a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Monday, campus police confirmed that a student had been treated Sunday for injuries "consistent with some type of fall."
"It appears that alcohol consumption on the part of the injured party may have played a role in this incident," police said in the statement. "It should also be noted that this is the second documented incident involving the injured party."
An investigation is ongoing, police said, but there has been nothing conclusive about the location or manner of the incident.
"At this time there are no witnesses to the incident and the injured party cannot tell investigators what occurred," police said in the statement. "A number of possible scenarios have been speculated by individuals who have been interviewed in attempts to account for how the injuries occurred."
That kind of speculation was echoed by a second student, speaking to the Red & Black, who said he knew the students who transported the injured student to the hospital: "He jumped out of the window."
Another of the student's dorm mates visited him in the hospital, but declined to discuss his condition to the Banner-Herald, except to say, "I think he’s going to be all right."
Gerard Kowalski, executive director of university housing, directed the AJC's inquiries to UGA PD "since an active police investigation is underway."
A university public affairs spokesman said there was no additional information available at this time.
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