A 21-year-old University of Georgia student survived an eight-story fall from an apartment window after apparently plunging through a screen while dancing near the opening, according to a police report obtained by News Outlet.
Kristen Sargent fell from an eighth-floor window at the Rambler Athens apartment complex on West Broad Street at approximately 7:37 p.m. Saturday.
Witnesses told police that Sargent had been dancing on a couch or air mattress beside the open window when she apparently went through the screen. She landed near a pool in a courtyard on the building’s second floor, the report states.
Investigators found signs that Sargent hit a metal bench during the fall, including blood on its cushion and a broken armrest, according to the responding officer.
A University of Georgia senior survived an eight-story fall from an apartment window in Athens, Georgia, after police say she went 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, told News Outlet that investigators believe the bench helped cushion Sargent’s fall. Jenkins said the incident is not being treated as a criminal matter and that police understand Sargent was alert and conscious.
Audio from the 911 call, obtained by FOX 5 Atlanta, captured the panic immediately after the fall.
“We’re on the eighth floor. My friend just fell out of the window,” a 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 whether Sargent was moving.
University of Georgia student Kristen Sargent, 21, survived an eight-story fall from an apartment window in Athens while dancing on a couch, police said. (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 was unable to 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 processed the scene, according to the report.
The Rambler Athens apartment complex on West Broad Street in Athens, Ga., where a University of Georgia student fell from an eighth-floor window. (Google Maps)
The responding officer wrote that the information collected at the scene indicated the fall was accidental. Jenkins also told News Outlet that police are not investigating the incident as a criminal case.
The police report lists Sargent as a resident of the apartment where the fall occurred.
Police said they could not comment on the window or explain what safety measures may have been 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 circumstances surrounding the incident.
News Outlet 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 Outlet’s request for additional information.
