Man trying to save apparent suicide plummets to his death
HONOLULU -- Two men fell from the 14th floor of a University of Hawaii dormitory -- one of them to his death while trying to pull the other from a ledge, Honolulu police said.
The 24-year-old man who died was trying to bring inside an apparently distraught 19-year-old who went out a window onto the ledge early Sunday, authorities said.
Both men fell to the ground and were critically injured, police said in a statement. They were taken to a hospital, where the older man was pronounced dead. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday.
Neither man was a University of Hawaii student, school spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said.
A student who lived at the dorm had some people over, and the two men were among them, Meisenzahl said. Their names were not released.
The university is investigating whether any student code violations occurred, Meisenzahl added.
"It's a terrible tragedy -- the last thing we want to happen ... whether they are students or not," he said. "Of course, our condolences go out to their friends and family."
The school year hasn't started yet so only about 20 students -- those in need of transitional housing between semesters -- were living in the two towers that make up the Hale Wainani dorm. They were scheduled to move out Sunday for cleaning ahead of the fall semester. The university has contacted all of them and offered them counseling, Meisenzahl said.
During the school year, the dorm houses more than 600 students. Those arriving for the upcoming semester are scheduled to move in to the dorms Tuesday and Friday.
The university's flagship Manoa campus is generally a commuter school without much of a fraternity scene, Meisenzahl said.