UM official says student died after falling from tree at frat house

JACKSON Miss.

A University of Mississippi freshman died Saturday after climbing a tree to retrieve a football at 3:45 a.m. and falling on his head, officials said.

Bradley Jameson, 18, of Fort Worth, Texas, was taken off life support about noon Saturday, university spokesman Jeff Alford said.

Jameson suffered “massive head trauma” early Saturday when he fell about 12 feet and struck his head on a concrete patio outside a fraternity house on the Oxford campus, said Lafayette County Coroner Lonnie Weaver.

Jameson and other students were playing catch outside the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house about 3:45 a.m. when the ball got stuck in a tree, Weaver and Alford said.

He was taken by helicopter to the Regional Medical Center in Memphis where he later died, Weaver said.

Alford told The Associated Press that “police said there was no evidence that there was any alcohol involved.”

However, the corner said he would have to look at toxicology reports before saying whether drugs or alcohol played a factor in the death.

Scott Stewart, Beta Theta Pi president, released a statement through the university saying all fraternity events would be canceled for the coming week.

“While Brad was not a member of our fraternity, he was close friends with several of our brothers and we were looking forward to recruiting him,” Stewart said. “This is a tragic accident. Our hearts are broken and our prayers go to his family.”

The last time a student died on the Ole Miss campus was Aug. 27, 2005, when Howard Stone, 19, of Martinsville, Va., William Townsend, 19, of Clarksdale, and Jordan Williams, 20, of Atlanta, died in a fire at the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives National Laboratory classified the cause of the fire as undetermined.

Also, university police officer Robert Langley, a 30-year-old Afghanistan war veteran and father of two sons and two stepdaughters, was killed on the campus in October 2006 after allegedly being dragged by a student’s vehicle.

Daniel Reed Cummings, 20, of Germantown, Tenn., is charged with capital murder of a police officer and is awaiting trial. Police say Langley died after the student sped off during a routine traffic stop.

On the Net:

University of Mississippi: https://olemiss.edu/

– Associated Press

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