A 21-year-old University of Georgia student survived an eight-story fall from an Athens apartment window after apparently slipping through a screen while dancing near the open window, according to a police report obtained by News Media.
Kristin Sargent fell from a window on the eighth floor of the Rambler Athens apartment complex on West Broad Street at about 7:37 p.m. Saturday.
Witnesses told investigators that Sargent had been dancing on a couch or air mattress positioned near the open window when she apparently went through the screen. She landed in the courtyard near a pool on the building’s second floor, the report said.
Investigators found signs that Sargent hit a metal bench during the descent. An officer reported blood on the bench cushion and noted that one armrest had broken away.
A University of Georgia senior survived an eight-story plunge from an apartment window in Athens, Georgia, after apparently falling through a screen while dancing near an open window. (Instagram/_kristinsargent; Google Maps)
Lt. Katie Jenkins, a spokesperson for the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, said investigators believe the bench helped cushion Sargent’s fall. Jenkins told News Media that the incident is not being treated as a criminal case and that Sargent was understood to be alert and conscious.
911 audio obtained by FOX 5 Atlanta captured the chaotic moments immediately after the fall.
“We’re on the eighth floor. My friend just fell out of the window,” one caller told dispatchers. “She’s on the ground. She fell out of the window. We were dancing, and she just fell out of the window.”
A dispatcher then asked if Sargent was moving.
Police said University of Georgia student Kristin Sargent, 21, survived an eight-story fall from an Athens apartment window while dancing on a couch. (Instagram/_kristinsargent)
“Is she moving? Is she moving? No, she’s not,” the caller replied.
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The caller later said she could see Sargent below but could not tell whether her eyes were open.
“No, I don’t know. I’m looking down at her on the floor. She’s not moving,” the caller said.
Paramedics took Sargent to a hospital. Police investigators interviewed her and witnesses there while forensic personnel examined the scene, according to the report.
The Rambler Athens apartment complex on West Broad Street in Athens, Georgia, where a University of Georgia student fell from an eighth-floor window. (Google Maps)
A responding officer wrote that the information collected at the scene indicated the fall was accidental. Jenkins also confirmed to News Media that police are not investigating the incident as a criminal matter.
The police report lists Sargent as a resident of the apartment where she fell.
Police did not provide details about the window or say what safety measures were, or were not, in place.
Sargent is a student at the University of Georgia in Athens. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images, File)
Rambler Athens previously said it was reviewing the incident.
News Media reached out to the apartment complex for additional information about the window and any safety measures in place at the time of the fall.
A representative for the University of Georgia did not immediately respond to News Media’s request for additional information.