BOWLING GREEN — Bowling Green city police Monday released the first official report in the death of Bowling Green State University student Stone Foltz, 20, in an alleged off-campus hazing event, and the Wood County Sheriff’s Office released a 911 recording of a frantic young woman reporting that her friend had drunk “a lot of alcohol” and was unresponsive.
The report says police were notified of an unresponsive male at 11:23 p.m. Thursday at an apartment in the 900 block of Klotz Road, Mr. Foltz’s residence.
According to the recording of the 911 call Thursday night, a dispatcher talked with at least two increasingly emotional young women and then talked a young man through attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation of his friend who appeared not to be breathing.
The call into Wood County 911, which The Blade does not plan to publish because of its sensitive nature, started out calmly, but deteriorated over nearly six minutes into crying and screaming as a dispatcher asked them about Mr. Foltz’s condition and got someone started on CPR.
“He drank alcohol, like a lot of alcohol,” the woman said. After getting the address, the dispatcher asked about his situation.
“He’s laying down on his side. His face is really purple and his pupils aren’t responsive,” the caller said, adding in answer to a question, “he’s breathing but really shallow.”
The caller became increasingly emotional as the dispatcher asked whether his chest was rising, which would indicate he might not be breathing and needed cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
“I don’t see it rising,” she sobs hysterically into the phone.
The caller could be heard apparently telling others in the room, “flip him over, flip him over, flip him over,” and then broke out into screaming, “oh my god, oh my god.”
The dispatcher asked for someone else to come on the phone. But though the second person begins speaking calmly, her voice, too, becomes frantic as the dispatcher tries to find out if someone there can perform CPR.
At this point, about three and a half minutes into the call, the dispatcher is told that another person in the apartment, Wade, is performing CPR.
“Put Wade on speakerphone and let me talk to him,” the dispatcher says, then asks him if he knows how to do CPR.
“Roughly,” the male voice says. “I was in Boy Scouts a long time ago.”
Step by step, the dispatcher asked if he had cleared the victim’s throat of anything that might obstruct his breathing, if he had tilted Mr. Foltz’s head back, and if he had the heel of his hand on Mr. Foltz’s chest between his nipples and was “pushing down hard.”
To all of those he said, “yes.”
The dispatcher started counting with him, quickly, through 30 chest compressions and two rescue breaths. When the dispatcher asks Wade if he feels comfortable administering rescue breaths, there is the sound of blowing, and Wade says he gave two breaths. Then the dispatcher starts another 30 chest compressions and two more rescue breaths.
Other people in the apartment are heard crying and talking so loudly that the dispatcher tells them to go into another room.
“Do you have anything back?” the dispatcher asks Wade. He answers, “no.”
As the dispatcher begins to count more chest compressions, about five and a half minutes since the start of the call, emergency medical responders arrive and the call ends.
The Foltz family attorney, Sean Alto, stated Sunday night that Mr. Foltz died after being in critical condition for several days so organs could be donated.
In a statement Monday, Mr. Alto said his team is “actively investigating the facts of the case and will be interviewing witnesses and gathering information to figure out exactly what happened on March 4.”
“Investigations involving hazing are complex and take time, but the Foltz family will eventually know the truth,” the statement read. “No family is ever prepared to say goodbye, especially under these circumstances. The Foltz family has been heartened by the outpouring of support, and we ask everyone to keep showing respect and consideration in their time of grief.”
Several BGSU students have posted on Facebook plans for a Tuesday protest demanding that the university expel the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity on BGSU’s campuses, publicly and explicitly take accountability for the incident and others, and force the resignation of current president Rodney Rogers, “as a consequence for the ways he has enabled dangerous practices from Fraternity & Sorority Life ...”
The protest will begin at 11 a.m. with a period of silence at the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. Following this, protesters will march to the university’s administrative building, McFall, where the university’s leadership is housed.
Local and university law enforcement are continuing to investigate the off-campus incident Thursday during which Mr. Alto previously said Mr. Foltz was given "a copious amount of alcohol” at an organized fraternity event.
Mr. Foltz was identified as an “unreported new member,” or someone who has not gone through the initiation process. He was seeking to join Pi Kappa Alpha’s Delta Beta Chapter at BGSU — commonly known as “Pike.” Mr. Alto said the student was dropped off that night at his apartment by members of the fraternity, where he was later found by his roommates, who called 911.
The fraternity was placed on interim suspension Friday and Sunday morning the Greek letters marking the home of Pi Kappa Alpha International Fraternity at BGSU were removed.
Late Saturday, the university also suspended all recruiting and social activities for fraternities and sororities on campus in the interim.
The suspension of Greek life will remain in place “until each chapter individually and successfully works with the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and the Office of the Dean of Students on comprehensive plans to safely restart,” Mr. Rogers said in a Saturday statement. “To do so, chapters may continue to conduct organization-wide and executive board meetings virtually with pre-approval from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life.”
First Published March 8, 2021, 3:14 p.m.
