ATLANTA -
A 20-year-old fan from Tennessee was drinking
alcohol before he fell to his death in the Georgia Dome and struck
another man, who was injured, authorities said Saturday.
Isaac Grubb of Lenoir City,
Tenn., was killed Friday night when he fell over a 33-inch railing and
plummeted to the lower level of the downtown Atlanta stadium during the
Tennessee-North Carolina State game. Grubb had been cheering Tennessee's
second touchdown when the accident happened around 8:23 p.m., said
Frank Poe, executive director of the Georgia World Congress Center
Authority, which operates the stadium.
Grubb, who was too young to
legally buy alcohol, started drinking around 5 p.m., more than three
hours before the accident, said Lt. Chad Hurston of the authority's
police department. Investigators are awaiting results from the medical
examiner's office before determining whether alcohol was a major factor
in the accident, Hurston said. An autopsy was planned.
Witnesses have told police Grubb did not buy alcohol inside the stadium. His family could not be reached for comment.
Grubb landed on a 34-year-old
man in the mezzanine from Fort Mill, S.C., who suffered minor injuries.
Georgia Dome officials did not release the identity of the second
victim, who was treated and released from the Atlanta Medical Center.
An initial review has not
identified any equipment failures, Poe said. Patrons in the balcony are
shielded by a railing that is 33 inches tall in front of seats and 42
inches tall in front of the aisles.
Poe said he believed a woman
attending an Atlanta Falcons game a decade ago had suffered minor
injuries in a similar fall. Stadium officials did not see a need to
change their policies before hosting a kickoff game Saturday between
Auburn and Clemson.
Poe also disputed accounts that
medical teams were slow to respond to the accident, saying the first
medical responders arrived at the site a minute after the accident,
followed by a second team four minutes later.
"In addition, we have not
uncovered anything regarding our standard operating procedures that
would suggest a change is necessary for" Saturday's game, Poe said.
The fall occurred a day after a
25-year-old fan tumbled about 60 feet from a fifth-floor escalator at
Reliant Stadium in Houston during a preseason Houston Texans game.
Jonathon Kelly died from the fall during the Thursday night game against
the Minnesota Vikings, and frantic witnesses called police to report
where his body had landed, police spokesman John Cannon said. Police
said the fall appeared to be an accident.
Last year, a firefighter
attending a Texas Rangers game in Arlington died when he fell from the
left field stands while reaching for a baseball tossed his way by
All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton. The man's 9-year-old son witnessed
the fall. A statue was later dedicated at Rangers Ballpark to the man
and his son, and railings were raised throughout the park before this
season.
And in Colorado, a 27-year-old
man, Robert Seamans of Pueblo, fell to his death last year while trying
to slide down a stair railing at Coors Field during the seventh inning
of a game between the Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks. He fell
between 20 and 30 feet and struck his head on concrete.
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The Georgia Dome
