Student Hits Pedestrian in Fatal Fall From Window

Freshman Rebecca Kim died after fall from 8th-floor dorm window
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 16, 2015 11:51 AM CST
Student Hits Pedestrian in Fatal Fall From Window
Tragedy strikes an 18-year-old Temple University student.   (Shutterstock)

A visit with two male friends at their Art Institute of Philadelphia dorm ended tragically last night for a Temple University student after she fell to her death from an eighth-floor window, CBS Philly reports. "It is with great sadness that I inform you of the death of Rebecca Kim, a first-year student in the College of Science and Technology," reads this morning's statement from Temple University, which also lists Kim as a pre-pharmacy student. Kim, 18, hit a 44-year-old woman walking on the 16th Street sidewalk during her fall; the pedestrian, who was rushed to a local hospital, suffered a fractured spine and ribs (and lost a few teeth, according to CBS) and is said to be in critical but stable condition at a local hospital and expected to recover, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

Witnesses told police that Kim had stepped out onto what's been described as a 2-foot-wide window ledge to take pictures and apparently slipped when one of the dorm's residents asked her to come back in a little before 6pm. The resident said he looked out the window after she fell and saw her lying on the sidewalk below. Kim, who suffered severe head trauma, was transported to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Although police don't have anything to suggest the fall was anything other than a terrible accident, they'll be checking out surveillance tapes from nearby businesses and are in the process of getting a search warrant for the dorm room, according to the Post-Gazette. (More Temple University stories.)

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