7 Injured When Apartment Deck Collapses At College Party In Towson

TOWSON, Md. (WJZ) -- Seven people were injured after a deck at a Towson apartment complex collapsed and fell eight feet.

Derek Valcourt has more on the accident and what's being done about it.

Police and fire officials say there's not much they can do, because this was an accident and nothing criminal. Still, a lot of people want to know what went wrong.

Baltimore County inspectors are out taking measurements and notes just one day after a second-story deck attached to an apartment collapsed at the Colony at Kenilworth, sending seven people to area hospitals.

Six people have already been treated and released, but 21-year-old Towson University student Owen Woodcock remains in serious condition at Shock Trauma. Rescue crews say he was still pinned under the deck when they got there.

"I just saw 10 of my friends get hurt," said one.

Witnesses say a party of college students were celebrating Labor Day when it happened. Fire crews report 100 to 150 people were in the immediate area when they arrived on scene.

"We had a lot of people here; we had people right under there and it just fell," said a witness.

At first, witnesses reported as many as 10 people were on the deck at the time; police now say that number may have been closer to six people.

"I'm not really sure exactly what they were doing or anything but I feel like that may have been why it collapsed," said Megan Meluskey, a Goucher student.

An official cause of the collapse may not be known for some time. That's because while county inspectors will verify that the building itself is safe to occupy, that will be the extent of the county's involvement. Police will not be investigating.

"This would be a civil matter between the people who were injured and the private property owner," said Elise Armacost, Baltimore County police.

"It's kinda scary to think about because I live in the same apartments, so..." Meluskey said.

That leaves several residents wondering about safety in this complex popular with college students.

Managers at the Colony at Kenilworth say they are distressed by what's happened and are cooperating with authorities, even though police are not investigating the incident. They say they, too, want to know what happened so they can learn from it and help keep something like this from happening again.

Police say five of the injured victims were students at Towson University.

Other Local News: