COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A student who jumped into a lake at Ohio State University as part of an annual event probably died from a broken neck, the county coroner said Thursday.
Franklin County Coroner Anahi Ortiz said preliminary autopsy results show that junior Austin Singletary, 22, of Bellbrook, Ohio, fractured his C-5 vertebra, in the neck area, during the plunge into Mirror Lake on Wednesday. He was participating in a student-led lake jump that's become a tradition to mark the Ohio State-Michigan football rivalry.
Please keep the friends and family of Austin Singletary '12 in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.
— Bellbrook High (@bellbrook_high) November 25, 2015
OSU and the friends and family of Austin Singletary are in my thoughts and prayers.
— Santa J. Ono (@PrezOno) November 26, 2015
With a heavy heart, I mourn the loss of EHE student Austin Singletary. Please join me in keeping his family in your thoughts and prayers.
— Cheryl Achterberg (@DrAchterberg) November 26, 2015
Every Buckeye has an extra place set at our Thanksgiving tables and in our hearts for Austin Singletary. How firm thy friendship
— Elena Arida (@elena_arida) November 25, 2015
RIP Austin Singletary: A Buckeye Forever. pic.twitter.com/0bqikf2NEt
— Gerard Basalla (@geemoneycricket) November 25, 2015
Ortiz said her office will conduct additional testing, including a toxicology screening, to make a final determination of what caused Singletary's death. The process should take six or seven weeks, she said.
Singletary was pulled from the lake around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, officials said. The lake jump was halted shortly after Singletary was taken to Wexner Medical Center, located on campus, where he died hours later. Ortiz said the neck fracture likely caused his death.
Ohio State announced after the death that it would move to end the annual lake jump, which had raised safety concerns for the school. President Michael Drake said the university is heartbroken over the death.
We are saddened to inform that Wed, at approximately 12:20am, an unidentified male was removed from Mirror Lake for a medical emergency(1/3)
— OSU Emergency Mngmnt (@OSU_EMFP) November 25, 2015
Onsite emergency responders immediately provided medical attention and he was transported to the Wexner Medical Center for further care(2/3)
— OSU Emergency Mngmnt (@OSU_EMFP) November 25, 2015
University spokesman Chris Davey said the jump - which involved an estimated 10,000 students throughout the evening - was not sanctioned by the university.
Mirror Lake is not intended for swimming. Jumping into frigid water is not advisable: https://t.co/x97XmBhhEd
— OSU Emergency Mngmnt (@OSU_EMFP) November 24, 2015
Reminder: the university does not encourage students to jump into Mirror Lake: https://t.co/x97XmBhhEd
— OSU Emergency Mngmnt (@OSU_EMFP) November 24, 2015
Officials had attempted to increase safety by putting up temporary fencing and requiring participants to obtain wristbands.
Reminder: students must pick up wristbands for entrance to Mirror Lake Tuesday. https://t.co/cziDzjreTT
— OhioStateStudentLife (@StudentLifeOSU) November 23, 2015
It has been a tradition since roughly the 1990s for throngs of students to leap into Mirror Lake ahead of Michigan weekend, when the Buckeyes play their biggest rival. The lake lies just off Ohio State's central green, known as the Oval.
