Death catches all by surprise and catches up with everyone in the end.
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hose of college age in Athens and at Ohio University would rather not believe their lives could be impacted by the death of a peer at such a young age, but both the University and city are accustomed to dealing with accidental deaths and suicides every year.
Athens Police have responded to 39 calls classified as “dead on arrival” since 2009, an average of nearly eight per year.
“Where alcohol is involved, there seems to be a consistent pattern of people falling, whether it be from windows or from balconies, that kind of thing,” Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said. “Those kinds of risky behaviors seems to be pretty consistent. That’s really the only major pattern I’d say.”
He added these deaths aren’t just an Ohio University or Athens problem, but one that has effects nationwide.
“The binding factor in all of these injuries is alcohol,” Pyle said. “Whether it be a DUI crash, a fall from heights or alcohol poisoning, it seems to be the lynchpin of all of that.”
Ohio University Police officials say they average one death investigation per year.
“Anytime someone dies, we try not to prejudge that situation and determine what happened before we get into it,” Ohio University Police Department Lt. Tim Ryan said. “So we investigate every death very seriously and thoroughly and kind of let the evidence speak for itself as to what happened.”
Yet, many of these investigations can’t be fully completed.
“The only person who can really say what happened is the person who died,” Ryan said. “And so, it’s very hard to get past a certain point what friends and family know, what school knows about them, which we try to talk to as many people as we can.”
Ohio University Police Chief Andrew Powers said of the five death investigations they pursued, only one was not ruled a suicide.
“It’s important to keep in my mind that when we’re investigating a death, if it ultimately ends up being suicide; what we’re doing is ruling out criminal behavior,” Powers said. “That’s different from discerning motive.”
The department doesn’t go into an investigation assuming suicide and trying to figure out why said person took his or her own life, he added.
“We have to figure out why they’ve died, and we have to rule out foul play or criminal activity,” Powers said. “Once we have done that, the investigation is pretty much over. In the course of doing it, however, we are sometimes able to help the family piece together a possible motive.”
In his first year as an administrator at OU from 2008 to 2009, Ryan Lombardi, vice president for Student Affairs, said the school dealt with 12 student deaths.
“That’s really, really high,” Lombardi said. “This year we’ve lost a couple. I hate to use the word normal, but it is statistically normal to have a couple of deaths over the course of the year.”
Not only are deaths in Athens and on campus included in that number, but deaths suffered at home or elsewhere.
Lombardi and Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones often have to make the call to families about the death of their child. Either Lombardi or Hall-Jones will attend the funeral as well.
“I know I’ve attended more than I can count over the years,” Lombardi said. “We will always try to have a representative from the university there to show our respect.”
Although the university offers grief counseling services for those traumatized by the death of a fellow student, Lombardi said students typically seek out the support of other peers.
“More often than not, students just want to be around each other and grieve with each other,” Lombardi said. “That seems to be common. I’ve been over at O’Bleness at 3 a.m. when a student died inside and the students outside might be waiting or grieving, they really just want to be together.”
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@akarl_smith
