Drunk ASU Freshman Naomi McClendon Falls 10 Stories to Her Death

Completely plastered at a party, she fell over the rails.

This used to happen at UCSB when I was there in the 1990s. High-rise dormitories and college drinking do not mix.

At the Arizona Republic, "ASU student death investigated by Tempe police":

Tempe police consider the death of an 18-year-old Arizona State University student a classic example of the dangers posed by under-aged drinking and are investigating who furnished her with alcohol at a party.

Sgt. Mike Pooley, a police spokesman, confirmed the investigation into furnishing alcohol for minors but said he cannot discuss further details. Pooley said that surveillance video shows that victim Naomi McClendon was clearly intoxicated after she left the party and entered 922 Place, a high rise off-campus apartment complex near Rural Road and Apache Boulevard where she was visiting a friend.

The surveillance video shows McClendon was unsteady on her feet early Sunday morning as she entered the lobby, rode in an elevator and walked in a hallway to her friend's apartment, Pooley said.

While McClendon's friends left the 10th floor apartment briefly, the victim walked onto the balcony, where she straddled the railing, lost her balance and plunged to her death at 2:45 a.m., Pooley said.

It was the sort of tragedy Tempe police were hoping to prevent earlier this year through their Safe and Sober Campaign, which cracked down on under-aged drinking, loud parties and driving under the influence of alcohol in the "loud party corridor" near ASU, where a study found a high incidence of major crimes. The corridor is bounded by University Drive, Broadway Road, Price Road and Rural Road.

"We know as a police department that minor, youth consumption can be a dangerous and sometimes deadly activity," Pooley said, especially when it involves binge drinking...