A University of Oklahoma student died after falling from a fire escape early Sunday morning, The Oklahoma Daily reports.
Casey Cooke, a 22-year-old member of Pi Beta Phi Sorority, died of blunt force trauma to the head and chest, Amy Elliott, chief administrator officer, told The Oklahoma Daily.
Cookem who was studying Zoology and Spanish at the university, was apparently attempting to climb a dorm fire escape, but slipped and fell. Paramedics attempted to resuscitate Cooke, but were unsuccessful.
Alex Pettigrew, a close friend of Cooke, said it is very common for students to climb the fire escape, though he acknowledged the dangers of it.
“We’ve all taken classes in these buildings past four years and this just a completely different view,” Pettigrew told the Oklahoma Daily. “It is dangerous. I can see why she should have not been doing that — and no one else should have been doing that either — but I don’t think she or anyone else saw that as a risk because a lot of people were doing it.”
Catherine Bishop, vice president of Public Affairs, released the following statement:
“It is with great sadness that I tell you that an unresponsive female was found lying east of Evans Hall shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday morning by OU staff who patrol the area. EMS was called, and CPR was administered, but she had already expired.
As is standard in an unattended death, the body was transported to the ME’s office, and the investigation is ongoing.
The female, Casey Cooke of Edmond, had been enrolled at OU in the spring and was enrolled for fall 2012 but was not enrolled in summer school.
The OU family is deeply saddened by this loss, and our heartfelt thoughts go to her family and friends.
(At this time, we have no reason to believe this was a suicide.)”
Cooke’s family released a statement.
“Casey was the shining family jewel, and we will miss her greatly,” her family said.
A toxicology report of Cooke’s body is still pending and may take between two and four months.
For Updates on this story, Be sure to Follow kollegekidd.com on Twitter @_KollegeKidd by clicking here.
You can also stay up-to-date by liking kollegekidd.com FaceBook Page by clicking here