Local high school student in hospital after falling from second-story window during Saturday night party
Editor's note: This story has been updated for accuracy. It was previously reported the student who fell was a Central Michigan University student. That is incorrect.
A male Shepherd High School student fell from the second-story window of an apartment early Saturday morning after police broke up the house party he was attending.
Medical personnel was called to a house at 715 S. Kinney Road, commonly known to students as "The Alamo," after the student was discovered by an officer who noticed people standing around a male subject who was on the ground and unresponsive, Mount Pleasant Public Information officer Jeff Thompson said via e-mail.
The student is still receiving medical attention, and Thompson said there has been no additional information indicating whether the student's injuries are fatal.
Samantha Johnson, a Grand Rapids sophomore, witnessed the event at the party Friday night.
“I was at the Alamo with one of my friends, and everyone started to flee,” Johnson said. “I looked over, and this guy is dangling from the second-story window. I turned away, heard him fall and heard his head hit the railing.”
First aid was administered, and the student was taken to McLaren-Central Michigan, 1221 South Drive, for medical attention for his injuries.
Johnson said her friends ran over to him and kept saying, "Man, are you kidding me?" She also noticed he had sustained a gash starting from the top of his head down to the end of his chin.
“I saw a pool of blood, and it freaked me out, actually,” Johnson said. “The cops had been there, along with two others who were around him.”
Other witnesses reported the subject slipped and fell, striking a guard rail on the ground-level porch.
Officers responded to a complaint of a nuisance party and made contact with one of the residents who was cooperating and attempting to clear the house, Thompson said.
“One of our officers heard yelling coming from the backyard of the residence and responded to the east side of the house,” Thompson said.
Witnesses said one other person jumped from the second-story window and fled the scene when police arrived, and the injured student also attempted to jump from the same window.
When the MPPD normally arrives to break up a party, it is best to cooperate and not run from the police, Thompson said.
“Our general practice is to make contact with the resident of the home and ask them to take the appropriate measures,” Thompson said. “If it is a small crowd, we ask them to move it inside, but if it’s large, we ask that they kick everyone out.”
Thompson said as long as the police get cooperation from the resident, the general practice is to call it good and leave the premises.
“Had the subject walked out the front door like everybody else, he would be home right now,” he said.
