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Student survives fall, shares story

Freshman business major Luis Hernandez reveals the nine staples used to close the wound he sustained on his head after the fall.
Lorain Watters
Freshman business major Luis Hernandez reveals the nine staples used to close the wound he sustained on his head after the fall.

On Oct. 14, Luis Hernandez, freshman business major and pledge for the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity, fell from the third-floor staircase ledge at Union East to the middle second-floor staircase.
After being taken to Las Palmas Medical Center, Hernandez was released Oct. 17 with no serious injuries.

“I didn’t break a single thing. The most that they had to do were those nine staples,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez is still sore in parts of his body, but he said he has made a full recovery.

“The doctors were surprised that I didn’t die. I have a little pain here and there. My back still hurts a little bit and my arm hurts if I touch them—in the tender areas. My head took the entire impact and where I got the staples does hurt,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez explained that when he sat on the ledge, he had jumped back to sit but overestimated, thinking the ledge was bigger than it was.

“My friend was standing near me and right when he turned around, he saw me falling and tried to catch me, but couldn’t,” Hernandez said. “It was so fast, I don’t remember the falling, there was no falling sensation.”

Hernandez believes that the university should not spend money on extending the railings or improving the Union to make it safer.

“I don’t see why the university should go out of their way to spend a whole lot of money. Maybe another sign that says ‘do not sit,’ but I don’t know about raising the ledge. It was my own fault. I don’t want to blame anyone except myself. People need to be careful,” Hernandez said.

Ofelia Dominguez, director of the Union, said the accident was immediately reported to the Environmental Health and Safety department.

“As of today, we have not received a recommendation,” Dominguez said. “Environmental Health and Safety is researching the matter further.”

Lorain Watters and Kristopher Rivera may be reached at [email protected].

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About the Contributors
Lorain Watters, Editor-in-chief Editor
Lorain Watters is a senior psychology and multimedia journalism major. She is currently the managing editor at The Prospector, previously holding the position of entertainment editor. Along with the newspaper and classes, Lorain is also a part of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars honors organization on campus. In her spare time, she enjoys reading at coffeeshops, discovering new music and driving. Lorain strives to work for the New York Times or the Huffington Post in the future.
Kristopher Rivera, Copy Editor
At the beginning of Kristopher Rivera’s sophomore year, he was sitting in a psychology course, pondering his future in regards to a career. He questioned if he really wanted to pursue a career in psychology, which was his major at the time. Feeling uncertain, he began to think of how one decision at that moment would shift everything about his future. He seemed to do well when it came to writing, and he enjoyed reading about bands in magazines such as Alternative Press, Rolling Stone and SPIN. So then he did some research and found that journalism was the way to go. Now, Rivera, senior multimedia journalism major, is scheduled to graduate this fall. It’s also marks his third year with the Prospector. He’s covered stories in sports, entertainment and news. In between some time at the Prospector, Rivera landed two internships. He spent his fall 2012 semester in Washington D.C. as an intern reporter for the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire. Many UTEP students like him have had the privilege to go experience living at the nation’s capital. He covered stories in the area, and saw political figures such as President Barack Obama, Sen. John McCain and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Rivera also had a nice opportunity to see the Who at the National Press Club, where they talked about their organization to help children with cancer. This summer Rivera was in Sacramento, Calif. working as an intern reporter for the Sacramento Bee newspaper. He had the opportunity to cover all kinds of stories such as a homicide, community events, major league baseball games—specifically the Oakland A’s and the San Francisco Giants, and he had some opportunities to work on some music features. He interviewed Ellie Goulding, Cedric Bixler-Zavala (the Mars Volta/At the Drive-In), Randy Ebright of Molotov and a few other artists. Rivera said he’s been blessed to have these opportunities, and it all started at the Prospector. Rivera is also a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.
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    Luis HernandezOct 24, 2013 at 2:08 PM

    Thank you for this!

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Student survives fall, shares story