A UCLA student remained in critical condition Tuesday night
after he fell off of the roof of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity
house on Landfair Avenue Monday evening, breaking both his hip and
wrist.
The student, 22-year-old Aaron Schmidt, is being treated in one
of the intensive care units at UCLA Medical Center, but visitors
say he is improving and was noticeably better Tuesday
afternoon.
“We’re all just really excited. … I could tell
he’s going to be fine,” said third-year political
science student David Shevitz who is also Schmidt’s roommate
in the fraternity house and visited him in the hospital.
Shevitz said Schmidt was standing on a solid part of the
house’s roof when he fell. Shevitz estimated the drop was
about 25 feet.
Chapter President Mark Jouret issued a brief statement Tuesday
afternoon, but would not comment on the circumstances surrounding
Schmidt’s accident.
“Aaron Schmidt, an initiate of the Beta Gamma chapter of
Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity, sustained a fractured hip and wrist
after suffering a fall at the chapter house. Aaron is recovering
and is in good spirits,” the statement read.
Third-year biology student Adam Snyder is the secretary of Pi
Kappa Phi, a neighboring fraternity house, and said he saw a fire
engine and an ambulance outside Delta Sigma Phi between 9 and 10
p.m Monday night. Snyder said he saw a stretcher near the ambulance
and a large group of people from the fraternity watching from their
front balcony.
Chris Hatfield, president of the Interfraternity Council, said
he was told of the event Tuesday morning and said there was no
alcohol involved in the incident.
The fraternity is currently conducting their spring pledging
process with the seven men who were chosen from first week rush.
Every Monday the new pledges are invited to dinner with the
brothers at the house, an event that was going on the night Schmidt
fell.
Schmidt is a third-year comparative literature transfer student
who grew up in Irvine.
Shevitz described him as “genuine” and noted that he
didn’t drink or smoke.
With reports from Shaun Bishop, Bruin senior staff.