Notre Dame Football Practice Death Investigation Complete; Results on Tuesday

The Indiana Department of Labor on Tuesday will announce the results of its investigation into the death of University of Notre Dame student Declan Sullivan.

Sullivan, who worked as a member of the athletic department’s video crew, died on Oct. 27 while videotaping a Notre Dame football practice. The portable tower Sullivan was standing on toppled over during high winds.

The National Weather Service had issued a wind advisory for the day, and gusts reached 51 mph about the time of Sullivan's fall. The scissor lift on which Sullivan was working crashed through a fence and landed on an adjacent street.

Before his death, Sullivan indicated via his Twitter account that he was in a dangerous predicament. Just as practice was beginning, around 3:00 p.m., Sullivan tweeted, "Gusts of wind up to 60 mph. Well today will be fun at work. I guess I've lived long enough."

Then, at 4:06 p.m., Sullivan posted another tweet: "Holy (blank). Holy (blank). This is terrifying."

At 4:50 p.m., the lift fell, gashing a chain-link fence that abuts the northern end of the practice facility. It landed in the middle of Courtney Lane, a service road that is flanked by the football fields to one side, and outdoor tennis courts near the tennis pavilion to the other.

I happen to live near the Notre Dame campus, and the velocity of high winds whipping across my yard that afternoon was astonishing, blowing over patio furniture and bending trees and shrubs.

When I learned later that afternoon that a Notre Dame student videographer had died as a result of working atop a portable tower during football practice in those same terrifying wind conditions, I was in disbelief.

My immediate reaction was, “OMG, what idiot allowed that kid to go up there?  What in the hell was the coaching staff thinking? Why were they practicing outdoors in those conditions?”

Those are some of the questions that, hopefully, will be answered Tuesday. The parents of Declan Sullivan and other students who entrust the University of Notre Dame with the well-being of their children need to know that the employees in change have enough sense to come in out of the rain, and to bring their kids in with them.