Coed Impaled on Fence After Fall From Window

L O S   A N G E L E S, Sept. 2 -- An 18-year-old college freshman was impaledon security bars Friday morning after she tumbled through thewindow of a second-floor apartment.

The student fell about 12:50 a.m. at an off-campus housingfacility for University of Southern California students, said Lt.Art Blair of the campus police department.

“She was leaning against a window with a screen in it,” Blairsaid. “The screen popped out and she did a back flip.”

The metal security bars broke the woman’s fall, but she landedupside down and two spikes punctured her buttocks, pining herupside down to the security bars.

‘A Real Trooper’

Firefighters freed her and took her to a hospital where she wastreated and then released Friday night.

“She was a real trooper, considering all that was going on andthe pain that she went through, that she toughed it out prettywell,” said firefighter Eric Dillon

Students came to her aid before the firefighters, usingbolt-cutters, snapped pieces of metal to free her and she wastransported, with the bars still puncturing her, to Los AngelesCounty-USC Medical Center.

“We released some of the pressure for her, tried to calm herdown. We all tried to make sure she didn’t go into shock,” saidUSC football player Steve Stevenson, who was one of those who cameto her aid.

The student did not have to undergo surgery and was dischargedfrom the hospital shortly before 9 p.m., according to a nursingsupervisor.

Police said they did not believe either alcohol or drugs playeda role in the accident. They declined to release her name or whatcity she is from.

While she was impaled, the student asked a free-lance newsphotographer to refrain from videotaping the accident, Blair said.

Local news shows, however, showed her impaled upside down withlegs dangling in the air. Some of the footage had been digitallyaltered to hide the girl’s face.