Fan Plunges to Death at College Football Game

Fan Plunges to Death at College Football Game

A man from Tennessee fell to his death from the upper deck of the Georgia Dome stadium during a college football game, in the second fatality this week stemming from a fall at a stadium, authorities said on Saturday.

Isaac Grubb, 20, of Lenoir City, Tennessee, died late on Friday at Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital following a 35-foot (11-metre) fall, said Laura Salm, an investigator from the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office.

Grubb fell from the upper deck of the stadium, apparently injuring another fan seated in the mezzanine area.

The second fan was treated and released from Atlanta Medical Center on Friday night, Salm said.

Grubb fell during a season-opening game in which the University of Tennessee beat North Carolina State University 35-21.

Jennifer LeMaster, a spokeswoman for the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, which operates the Taco Mac Georgia Dome stadium, said that based on an initial review by the authority's police department, "there were no equipment or maintenance failures" that contributed to Grubb's fall.

"We have nothing in our standard operating procedure that needs to be changed" before the next event at the stadium on Saturday evening, Lemaster said in an email statement.

LeMaster said a preliminary investigation determined that Grubb consumed alcohol, beginning around 5 p.m., before entering the stadium, but did not purchase any alcohol once inside. She said investigators were awaiting official toxicology results from the medical examiner.

On Thursday night, Jonathan Kelly, 25, died after falling about 60 feet from a fifth-floor escalator at Reliant Stadium during a preseason National Football League game in Houston, according to media reports.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Monday September 03 2012, 2:40 AM EDT. Ref: Reuters. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0