A Lantzville man who is a member of a prestigious U.S. rowing team is in a California hospital after suffering serious head injuries last week.
Police in Berkeley, Calif., said Andrew Crowley suffered severe head trauma when he fell from the side of a three-story building Feb. 25.
The incident happened shortly before 11:30 p.m. as Crowley tried to scale down a vertical drainpipe on the back of a fraternity house in Berkeley.
Witnesses told police the drainpipe separated from the wall of the building when Crowley was partway down and he fell the remaining distance.
Crowley was rushed to Highland Hospital in Oakland, considered the best Level 1 trauma centre in the area.
Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, Berkeley Police Department spokeswoman, said police determined the incident was an accident and no foul play was involved.
“We believe alcohol played a significant role in the accident,” Kusmiss said.
“We don’t believe, based on conversations with some of his collegiate acquaintances, that he would be doing something like that – just based on his personality and who he was – unless he was intoxicated,” she said. “It’s a sad story.”
Crowley remains in critical condition in a medically induced coma and family members have travelled to Oakland to be with him, she said.
Crowley is in his freshman year as a member of the the University of California Berkeley Cal Men’s Crew rowing team, which ranks among the top teams in the U.S.
Crowley’s older brother Spencer, who won two silver medals with the Canadian national team at the 2011 Pan Am Games in Mexico, was also member of the Cal men’s crew.
Kusmiss said there are at least a dozen incidents like this involving students in the area annually.
