Alcohol a factor in two college-student deaths this academic year
By Jeff Sturgeon | The Roanoke Times
Two underage students have died at area colleges this school year at least partly as a result of drinking too much alcohol, according to information released by the Roanoke-based Western District of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia.
Radford University student Samuel Mason died Oct. 15 of acute ethanol poisoning, district administrator Tracie Cooper said Thursday.
In this context, ethanol refers to alcohol, Cooper said.
In addition, Virginia Tech student David Gayle died Sept. 25 from post-traumatic apnea due to a cerebral concussion and acute alcohol intoxication, Cooper said.
The fatalities are among hundreds of similar cases each year in the United States. An estimated 1,825 college students between 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes, yearly, according to collegedrinkingprevention.gov, an arm of the National Institutes of Health.
The night before his death, Mason, 20, of Chesterfield County, was seen drinking a bottle of liquor at a Tau Kappa Epsilon party and was taken home by friends “to sleep off the intoxication,” police have said. He was found dead the next morning and there was evidence he had vomited in bed, police said.
Radford police said Friday that, more than three months after he died, they continue to investigate the incident.
Acute ethanol poisoning, or a fatal dose of alcohol, kills by stopping involuntary actions such as breathing and the gag reflex, which prevents choking, according to collegedrinkingprevention.gov.
The TKE headquarters placed the RU chapter of the fraternity on suspension after the incident. That suspension continues “pending the results of all investigations,” TKE spokesman Thomas McAninch said.
Gayle fell while trying to climb from a third-story balcony to an apartment complex roof and was severely injured on impact. The medical examiner’s statement says he stopped breathing because of a head injury and severe inebriation.
More than four months after his death, Gayle's case remains an "active criminal investigation," Blacksburg Police Chief Kim Crannis said Thursday.
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Under 21: A special Roanoke Times Report exploring the drinking age on Virginia college campuses