University of Georgia student falls out of 8th-floor apartment window while dancing on sofa — and survives
A lucky University of Georgia senior miraculously survived a horrifying fall from the eighth floor of an apartment building, according to her father.
Kristin Sargent, 21, is recovering in intensive care after investigators said she plummeted from a window while dancing on a couch in Athens, Georgia, shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“She was talking to one of her friends and saying, ‘Hey, I’m alive. I can’t believe it’,” her dad, Richard Sargent, told Channel 2 Action News, recalling how fortunate his daughter feels to have survived.
He explained that his daughter is “pretty badly beaten up” but acknowledged they are “lucky that she’s alive and we’re blessed.”
“She’s a good fighter, and so she’s going to be OK,” Richard Sargent said.
He didn’t get into what caused the terrifying accident –– which reportedly left her with several broken bones –– but explained that it came after the Georgia Bulldogs beat the Oklahoma Sooners 41-13 on Saturday.
“University of Georgia just won a football game,” Richard Sargent said. “I bet there was a lot of kids here who are 21 years old who were super happy.”
The 5’7 blonde, who weighs 115 lbs. and is a senior studying finance and marketing at UGA, was in The Rambler building on West Broad Street in the famous college town when she plunged from the window onto the pool deck, according to a police report obtained by The Post.
Responding officer Erik Ellison wrote that officers were dispatched to the building at approximately 7:37 p.m.
“I arrived and spoke with bystanders who advised that the female victim had been dancing on a couch or air mattress which was near an open window and had apparently fallen through the screen and onto the ground below,” he wrote.
“When I arrived, the victim was on the ground near the pool, which at this complex is in a courtyard on the second floor of the building.
“It appeared from the scene that the victim had struck a metal bench as she fell, as the cushion on the bench had some blood on it, and the armrest of the bench had broken off.”
Ellison added that the victim and other witnesses were interviewed at the hospital and that all the information gathered suggested that it was an accident.
Forensics also processed the scene and the investigation remained ongoing at the time of writing the report, he said.
“At this time it appears that the victim will survive,” he wrote.
Witnesses reportedly said a lounge chair may have broken her fall before she hit the ground.
The building sent a message reminding residents that windows throughout the complex have safety limiters installed and warned them not to “tamper with, remove or disengage” the devices, Channel 2 reported.
However, authorities have not said whether the window Kristin Sargent fell from had a safety limiter engaged or if it played a role in the incident, according to the outlet.
The student’s family scrambled from their home in Virginia after receiving a phone call from somebody who told them, “Oh my God, Kristin’s had a tough fall,” her dad said.
A large poster inside the building was filled with dozens of well wishes from the lucky youngster’s friends and fellow students.
In its message to residents, management at The Rambler said it was cooperating with investigators.
A Rambler Athens representative told The Post: “Our thoughts are with our resident, and we are wishing for a speedy recovery. We are continuing to gather information and review the circumstances surrounding the incident.”