University of Georgia student dancing on couch near window falls 8 stories and survives
The Rambler Athens apartment complex.Google MapsShareAdd NBC News to GoogleSept. 29, 2026, 10:31 AM EDT / Updated Sept. 29, 2026, 2:26 PM EDTBy David K. LiA University of Georgia student survived a plunge from her eighth-floor apartment, authorities said Monday, after she had been “dancing on a couch near a window” and fell out.
The terrifying fall from the Rambler Athens Apartments at 558 W. Broad St. in Athens happened at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday, according to police records.
The “student was dancing on a couch near a window that was open” and “fell from the 8th floor window and landed on the pool deck below,” the Athens-Clarke County Police Department said in a statement to NBC News.
Remarkably, 21-year-old Virginia native Kristen Elizabeth Sargent appeared to have survived this harrowing plunge.
“At this time, she is conscious and alert but seriously injured,” police added.
A cushioned metal bench might have broken the 5-foot-7, 115-pound woman’s fall.
“I arrived and spoke with bystanders who advised that the female victim had been dancing on a couch or air mattress which was near an open window and had apparently fallen through the screen and onto the ground below,” according to a report by ACC police Sgt. Erik Ellison.
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A representative for the university could not be immediately reached for comment.
Rambler Athens, where the near-fatal fall happened, is a student housing community that sells itself as an upscale building that includes a “state-of-the-art” gym, a “resort-style pool,” coffee bar and pet care services.
David K. LiSenior Breaking News Reporter
