Declan Sullivan, Notre Dame Student Killed in Video Tower Collapse, Tweeted Before His Fall

Notre Dame junior Declan Sullivan, 20, sent messages to Twitter from the top of the camera tower where he was recording a football practice less than an hour before he fell to his death Wednesday.

In the first message, timestamped 3:22 p.m., Sullivan wrote, "Gust of wind up to 60mph well today will be fun at work... I guess I've lived long enough :-/."

The second message, which was sent at 4:06 p.m., less than an hour before his tragic fall at 4:50 p.m., reads, "Holy f*** holy f*** this is terrifying."

The National Weather Service reported winds of 51 mph in South Bend this afternoon. On campus, students struggled to fight the gusts as they walked to class.

The campus is reeling from the tragedy. Students and faculty members alike are taking to Facebook and Twitter to express disbelief that anyone -- let alone a 20 year-old student -- would have been in a camera tower under such harsh conditions. On Tuesday, in the wake of a tornado warning, Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly held the first indoor practice of his tenure, but despite similarly windy conditions today, the team resumed outdoor practice. "It almost certainly could have been avoided," said Andrew Seroff, 21, a senior at the university.

WATCH:

Editor's Note: This post originally contained a screenshot of Declan Sullivan's Facebook page. It has been removed.

 

Comments

[evanrkg]

03:47 PM on 11/14/2010

Shame on the head coach

[olmossy]

11:56 AM on 11/03/2010

To the Sullivan's , I'm sorry about the loss of your child. If there is anything worse I haven't seen it.
Just lean on your friends and family and keep putting one foot in front of the other.
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What the H3ll kind of School Administration sits through a football game watching some schoo lkid being blown around up on top of a tower ? Kids act like Kids. This is why we have"Adults" watching over them , when we send them away to school.

If the danger was as obvious as it seems Where were the 'adults' ?

[Dr Carol LaBra]

02:12 AM on 11/03/2010

! agree with the blogger but my prior 4 replies have not been allowed to be posted by the censors. Does anyone know why they are so terrified of an open expression of ideas or why they are paid so much or volunteer to keep freedom of speech from being practiced? For the repression of statements that agree with what has already been said is almost as dangerous as stifling dissent and asserting everything is wonderful.

[al7nan]

02:23 PM on 11/02/2010

Poor guy. He wasn't old enough yet to know that if he felt that unsafe that he should have walked off the job.
Best to his family and friends. http://www.graaam.com/

[Tweetsmom]

09:52 AM on 11/01/2010

What irks me is that it was reported in the local newspaper that the University of Notre Dame to sign a waiver stating they were not liable in the event of injury or death so nothing can come back on them. They covered their butts so they could be negligent and nothing would happen. If Declan hadn't signed that waiver, then his family could have probably filed a lawsuit and won. As it is, Notre Dame probably will not be held accountable for any of it. It disturbs me that Declan had the sense to realize conditions were not good and he shouldn't be up on the lift, that it was dangerous. However, the poor kid valued his position at Notre Dame too much to take the chance of losing it, so up he went. I think the people in supervisor and authority positions should have taken a stand and told him there would be no filming that day. Declan probably feared the conditions, and losing his position doing a job he supposedly valued and loved. Very sad. My prayers are with his family. A life is more important than anything. http://www.thetruckerswife.com/

[howitis]

05:53 PM on 11/02/2010

seems like most businesses/organizations/schools have people sign those waivers to do just about anything.

[CentaurZ]

03:40 PM on 10/30/2010

Why has the filming done that day by Sullivan not been released? It would have shown the wind conditions. Was it destroyed?

[Wendy Higgins]

02:51 PM on 10/30/2010

If he had been an employee, he would have had a harness system on to do the kind of work that this kid did. its too late to save Declan Sullivan but now everyone that works in that tower should be required to wear a harness system. The football coach never would never allowed a player to practice without having his safety pads and helmet on. The same should apply for all the kids that participate on the sidelines.

[dems08]

07:00 PM on 10/30/2010

The whole tower fell over.

[olmossy]

12:00 PM on 11/03/2010

Had this been a professional SteppleJack or lineman They would have refused to go up there.
Because they are adults with experiance and saftey rules.

[carolo]

02:04 PM on 10/30/2010

Sorry but this was a college student. He knew there were wind gusts, the wrote how afraid he was so why in H*** did he stay there or go there to start with? Once in awhile someone needs to be responsible for themselves and not always blame someone else. If I stand too near the edge of a cliff and I fall, who's blame is it.

[thepill]

04:22 PM on 10/30/2010

Well you should know better that to be a jerk, but you're doing it anyway, right? Maybe you don't realize you have a choice?

[Olampean]

08:48 PM on 10/30/2010

Even within the context of such an terrible tragedy, his question is not really unfair.

Referencing your last sentence about choice, perhaps one may ask if the victim did not have a choice, as well.

That said, the person(s) in position(s) of responsibility should have managed the situation more intelligently than to have allowed such a tremendous risk.

[Amsterdaam]

05:06 PM on 10/30/2010

He calls it work: I don't think he wanted to be there.

[DangerBoy]

01:45 PM on 10/30/2010

That's so sad, that poor kid.

[kmeccat]

01:02 PM on 10/30/2010

There were high wind warnings /tornado warnings...planes were diverted from Indiana ---my husband was on one--yet they let someone up in a tower to film a PRACTICE?
Who was responsible for this?
Hopefully, rules and regulations with regards to occupancy of the filming towers will be changed now...a day and one death late, and a dollar short....

[bresponsible]

11:01 AM on 10/30/2010

Are there no reasonable people left in this world. No adult watching and paying attention to the possibilities?
What a sad and pathetic story.

[carolo]

02:05 PM on 10/30/2010

I think he was a bit too old to need a babysitter.

[jupiterII]

05:10 PM on 10/30/2010

OK lets see now, this was a young college student, therefore he probably always did what instructors and mentors asked of him. He was young and male so he also probably thought this is scary and cool at the same-time. And as far as babysitting is concerned, yes ALL adults in a teaching role are just that, guiding young people into life, so yes, he did need a babysitter, but sadly his was obviously very lacking in common sense. I know the man who sent him up there will now be haunted for life with this tragedy.

[huffponewbie]

11:00 PM on 11/02/2010

He was an adult!

[SangZe]

04:41 PM on 10/29/2010

Very sad. A stupid, senseless, death.

[gop4obama]

08:43 AM on 10/29/2010

Mr. Swarbrick's responses represent what UND really stands for. A big corporate pig in the guise of a religious academic institution.

ND cowers behind a "touchdown Jesus," but in reality is just another big corporation, looking out for its own liability interests.

Instead of stepping up, and acknowledging the failures by ND that led to a young man being in a lift in gale force winds, he starts to set the stage for the litigation defense, claiming he thought the conditions were fine. This conduct by the ND exec is shameless, and I hope a jury pounds him for these statements when the case goes to trial.

I'm a graduate of ND, and as ashamed as I am over other incidents while I was a student there, this incident sickens me as well.

[gop4obama]

12:21 PM on 10/29/2010

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19920107&slug=1469077

[freshnotbitter]

07:29 AM on 10/29/2010

Certain cranes used to unload ships have a wind indicator on them that make a noise when the wind gets above a certain level. When the operator hears the noise he has to come down from the crane.

[SpaghettyIrish]

06:29 AM on 10/29/2010

Poor guy. He wasn't old enough yet to know that if he felt that unsafe that he should have walked off the job.
Best to his family and friends.