Homecoming parade takes an unexpected turn

By 9:50 a.m. on Saturday, Oct.19, our staff sent us all of the stories for this issue, and I had already started walking from Kafadar back to Th e Oredigger office to work on layout out the paper. But
at the corner of Maple St. and 13th St., a fun and harmless homecoming tradition had gone wrong. The two-story float carrying members of the Kappa Sigma fraternity and Sigma Kappa sorority collapsed while turning in front of Steinhauer Field House.Based on eyewitness reports, who have chosen to remain anonymous, the hitch connecting the float to a pickup truck failed while taking the turn. One individual believes that the hitch disconnected as a result of the dip in the intersection. Another thought that the truck had taken the turn a bit too sharp, and a bit too fast. Yet another said that the float had shown signs of failure, and it was only a matter of time before it fell on itself. However it happened, as Homecoming parade takes an unexpected turn soon as the trailer became disconnected, the float essentially imploded, with about 30 students on board.
Local news quickly jumped on the story, with Channel 9 and Fox 31 arriving at the scene even before an alert could be sent through the Mines system to warm students to avoid the area. By the time I made it up to the tailgate, the scene had been mostly cleared and ten students (eight via ambulance) had been transferred to the hospital. There was still tangible tension in the air. It has been reported that everyone is in stable condition, and the worst injuries suffered were broken bones. In a campus-wide email sent on Saturday night, President Johnson and Dan Fox (Vice President of Student Life), announced that additional design constraints and safety guidelines will be established before next year’s parade. Our thoughts are with those affected by the accident, and we
wish everyone a speedy recovery.