College Party Turns Tragic

A party early today on Bailey Road turned tragic when a 19-year-old man, believed to have been drinking, fell out of a tree and suffered a neck injury.

Police said the 19-year-old, whose home address is in Massapequa, N.Y., fell about 12 feet in the backyard of a home at 70 Bailey Road after he followed a girl in climbing a tree. The teen drifted in and out of consciousness and complained to emergency responders of extreme pain in his upper extremities, or neck and shoulders. He was taken by AMR Ambulance to St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport, police said.

His condition wasn't available this afternoon, but police said he may have suffered a broken neck.

Two men who police said admitted to hosting the party and providing alcohol to minors were each given an infraction for permitting a minor to possess alcohol, which carries a $136 fine. The men who were given infractions - which requires them to either pay the fine or contest the infraction in court - were Michael Hernandez, 21, of White Plains, N.Y., and James Willis Alexander, 22, of Tacoma, Wash.

Police Sgt. James Perez, a department spokesman, said today that many of the people at the party, estimated at about 30, weren't even aware someone had been injured. Police were notified about the injured teen by a female at the party who dialed 911, Perez said.

"He was on the ground in the backyard. The officers started asking around, the patrons, guests, other party-goers, where the injured party was, and they had no idea what the police were talking about. It just demonstrates how oblivious people can be," Perez said.

Perez couldn't say if the party-goers were from one of Fairfield's two universities, but he said a lot of Sacred Heart University students have moved into the area where the party took place. The party was going on about 1:30 a.m. when police arrived, Perez said.

Perez said underage drinking is dangerous because minors can lose their sense of responsibility and become less aware of their surroundings. "They start to get silly and can make lethal mistakes - those lethal mistakes being operating a motor vehicle, or, in this case, self injury. Underage people should not involve themselves in drinking because of the irresponsibility that comes with it," he said.