Posted on 04/06/2023 7:47:35 AM PDT by Red Badger
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A 17-year-old boy from the Grand Rapids area died after falling from a balcony while on spring break in Florida, authorities say.
In a letter to the school’s community, Forest Hills Eastern High School Principal Amy Pallo said senior Anthony Holman died.
“Anthony was someone that everyone loved. He had an infectious smile, warm and gentle spirit, and was so kind to everyone. It feels impossible to comprehend a loss like this,” Pallo wrote.
Pallo said the school has counselors available for students.
“Our sincere prayers go out to the family and friends of the young man in this tragic loss,” the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
It happened at condominium complex in Destin in the Florida panhandle, west of Tallahassee. Deputies went there around 4 a.m. Tuesday after someone staying nearby spotted the body on the ground and called 911.
Deputies say the teen fell from a fourth-floor balcony and was dead when they arrived.
The investigation was ongoing, but authorities said alcohol is believed to have been involved.
A GoFundMe account has been created to help the family with funeral costs.
Ah, another spring break, another balcony and another unfortunate incident.
What a shock.
Darwin Awards we have a winner.
One of those "hey, watch this" moments.
When one of my kids was in college he called to ask if he and some buddies could borrow our van for a spring break trip.
I asked where they were going. (If it was Florida the answer would be an emphatic No! and would include an immediate calling in of the loans we gave him and changed locks.
They were doing a tour of several space museums around the country. A couple of the students already had security clearances and the others eventually would.
They got the van. That was a wise use of spring break.
As a kid, I went on SB to Daytona from Maryland back in the 70s.
Stayed on the 8th floor at a hotel on the beach which had hallways open to the outside, common at hotels on the beach.
One evening waiting for the bathroom to free up, I was standing outside our room door in the hallway looking at the beach.
A commotion from the hallway on the floor below caught my attention as two guys were holding another guy by his feet over the railing!!
At first I thought they were messing with him but realized the guy was trying to jump. He was shouting, “Let me go, let me go! Satan wants me! The devil needs me in Hell!!”
Long story short, the two guys were actually trying to prevent him from going over the rail. They couldn’t hold on and he fell headfirst to the pavement below, killing him.
Never forgot that. Obviously.
Happens practically every year now.
Back about 1992 I saw college kids jumping off a 3 story balcony into the swimming pool at a beach hotel near where this kid died................
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