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2006 Slush Pile

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High Dive

2006 Reader Submission
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East Sider falls to death U student and friend had been climbing empty grain elevator BY LESLIE BROOKS SUZUKAMO Pioneer Press

A University of Minnesota student who grew up on St. Paul's East Side died early Sunday after falling into an abandoned grain elevator a few blocks from her off-campus home in Minneapolis.

Germain Juliette Vigeant, 20, was found dead at the bottom of the elevator at 973 13th Ave. S.E. after a friend, identified by police as Damon Vaughan, 20, called 911 about 3:45 a.m. Police told Vigeant's family they believe the fall was an accident.

Police said they are continuing an investigation.

Vaughan told police he and Vigeant were climbing at the top of the elevator when she fell. The elevator is more than 100 feet tall, said Minneapolis police spokesman Ron Reier.

Vigeant and Vaughan were trespassing on the property, but no charges have been filed and police have made no arrests, Reier said.

"We don't know what they were doing up there," he said. "Whatever happened, this was 100 percent preventable because two people were where they were not supposed to be."

In October, an 18-year-old Robbinsdale man survived a 70-foot fall into an abandoned Con Agra grain elevator near Thomas and Glenwood avenues in Minneapolis. Grain at the bottom of the elevator likely saved his life, police said then.

Aaron Eisenberg, a university student and Vaughan's housemate, said Vigeant called Vaughan about 2:30 a.m. Sunday to chat and Vaughan then left about 3:30 a.m. The last time he heard from Vigeant, she said she was on her way to Taco Bell, he said.

"The two of them, they flirted a lot," Eisenberg said of Vigeant and Vaughan. "I think she kind of liked him a lot." Vaughan was not her boyfriend, however, he said.

Vigeant was "super-friendly, really open," Eisenberg said. "She seemed to have a lot of friends."

Vigeant's brother, Felix Vigeant, 23, said his sister was studying sociology and wanted to be a social worker who helped children.

"She wanted to come back to the East Side and save the neighborhood," Felix said.

Vigeant's brother said it was well-known that many students have climbed the abandoned elevators near campus. He said his sister asked him about it "and I told her, 'Don't go up because there are lots of weirdos,' " Felix said.

Vigeant was very popular and well-liked while growing up, her brother said. "She had more friends than anybody I knew," he said. "She was really witty. She'd throw off these one-liners that would get everyone laughing."

"We talked, like, daily," he said. "She was something special."

Leslie Brooks Suzukamo can be reached at lsuzukamo@pioneer press.com or 651-228-5475.

My comments:

I grew up in this Area and own a duplex that I rent to students.

First the students had to climb or get through a fence to get to the grain elevator...if this wasn't enought warning there are signs all over the place that they must not have been able to read with their alcohol dulled eyesight. Then they had to get inside the building, climb to the top where they proceeded to look down into the landing zone. Perhaps the blood pumping into her brain so quickly due to the exertion of climbing all that way made her alcohol induced unsteadiness so much greater but she was still able to negotiate the most important step of her life as she stepped into the darkness of the 100 foot deep cavern. Just how deep is this thing?

Submitted on 01/30/2006

Submitted by: Eric Johnson
Reference: Pioneer Press 1-30-2006

>> Moderator Scores <<

James said:
Maybe Toss: Too Common
Thanks for submitting, Eric. Unfortunately, this seems like another example of rather routine college-age hijinx gone all wrong (WAY too common). The fall was apparently an accident. If further information surfaces which shows that the victim excersized EXCEPTIONAL stupidity (ie doing a tap dance routine once up at the top), PLEASE let us know. Otherwise, as it now stands, this really just amounts to another accidental fall...

Jack said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
I'm going to vote neutral on this in order to get more input from the other moderators. Had they been trying to scale the outside of the grain elevator, I'd have put this into the too common/extreme sports catagory, but as it is, there are too many questions. A stupid idea gone wrong, it was, but was it Darwin level stupidity? Thanks for the submission, Eric.

Jorge said:
Maybe Toss: Lacks Excellence

Greg said:
Maybe Toss: Other
I'm with James on this one. Thanks anyway.

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High Dive

2006 Reader Submission Pending Acceptance

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2006 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

>> The Darwin Awards, by Wendy Northcutt <<
Link to Fight Evil.