One UNC student died and another is in fair condition after the two fell from a third-floor window of Stacy Residence Hall on Friday morning.
Sophomore Keith Shawn Smith, a resident adviser for the third floor of Stacy and a Greensboro resident, died at UNC Hospitals after the fall. Freshman Tyler Downey, an Asheville resident, remains hospitalized.
The two were racing down the hallway at 12:23 a.m. and weren't able to stop themselves from crashing through the window, said Lt. Bill Nato of University police. Smith and Downey fell four floors and landed on a ramp outside the entrance to the dormitory's basement-level laundry room.
Downey's patient status improved Friday evening after more than 13 hours in critical condition. According to medical jargon, "fair condition" means that Downey is conscious, though he might be uncomfortable, and his vital signs are stable and within normal limits. His condition remained fair Saturday, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Melissa Exum, dean of students, said in a Friday afternoon press conference that investigators don't think alcohol or drugs played a role in the incident.
"They were friends - and friendly," she said. "When you live in a residence hall, you develop friends and have fun. They were having fun."
A group of 20 people gathered outside the residence hall in the minutes after Smith and Downey's fall from the north side of the building, which faces Country Club Road.
Freshman Matt Lish, one of the first students on the scene, was on the second floor of Stacy when he heard a crash and saw an object fall past the window.
Unsure of what it was, he went downstairs to investigate, he said.
"I thought it was a tree branch or something," Lish said about 10 minutes after the accident. "I went down because I thought there was a tree that had fallen on a person."
Students called 911, and University and Chapel Hill emergency response rushed to the scene.
By 1 a.m., the area around the window included few students and quiet hallways. One student sat crying outside the dormitory's southern entrance, near the Circus Room.
Stacy is set up as a "traditional" residence hall. Its third floor consists of a long hallway flanked on either side by students' rooms, bathrooms and a study.
Carpet covers most of the floor, though it gives way to tile a few feet from the window Smith and Downey fell from.
Lisa Katz, University spokeswoman, said this afternoon that the window is 2 1/2 feet above the dormitory floor and was covered with double-paned security glass. The windows were installed as part of a renovation that took place in 1994-95, Katz said.
Smith and Downey's spaces on Facebook, a popular social networking Web site, are filled with outpourings of support and love from friends.
According to Smith's Facebook space, he was an economics major who attended Ben L. Smith High School in Greensboro and who had given his time to Honor Court and Campus Y's Hunger Lunch.
Downey became an all-conference defensive back on last year's Asheville High School men's soccer team, which finished second in the state in Division 3A.
The families of both Smith and Downey arrived in Chapel Hill this morning and have been in contact with the University. Counselors were on hand at UNC Hospitals and in the Lower Quad, which includes Stacy and four other residence halls.
Workers installed a replacement window made of fire-rated wired glass Friday afternoon. Katz said that the window is the same as the one the two students crashed through and is in compliance with state building code.
Beyond admonishing students to be careful, Exum said, there's not much the University can do to prevent future accidents. UNC's immediate focus, she said, is on the friends and family of the students.
"This is a sad day for the University community."
