Cops probing seventh plunge by PSU student since '12
Posted: January 25, 2014 - 4:06am

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- Police were trying to find out who supplied alcohol at a party where a Penn State student fell from an apartment balcony. A State College police search warrant indicates the student told police he was drinking beer and vodka and using drugs before he fell. The student was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after falling about 1:45 a.m. Sunday, according to The Centre Daily Times (http://bit.ly/1blraVf ). Police got the warrant to gather evidence from the apartment, as well as the results of blood drawn from the student at Mount Nittany Medical Center. The young man who rented the apartment denied hosting a party and said he didn't know anyone had fallen from the balcony, police said. He later acknowledged he and several of this guests had been drinking, but he also told police that the student who fell had been drinking before arriving, police said in an affidavit filed with the warrant. The newspaper reports six other students have fallen or jumped in recent months, including two who were deemed to have committed suicide. The first occurred in October 2012, when a cheerleader fell about 40 feet from an apartment window, causing brain and hip injuries. Police blamed alcohol in that incident. In December 2012, a 19-year-old woman fell from a fraternity house window. In April, a 24-year-old former student dived through a sixth-floor apartment window. His death was ruled a suicide. There were two falls in November. In one, a 20-year-old student died after falling from a ninth-floor apartment balcony while reportedly using psychedelic drugs. In the other, a 19-year-old broke his leg after falling from a second-floor apartment building. Alcohol was a factor, police said. Last month, a 22-year-old student jumped from a parking garage in another suicide.