Balcony tragedy

Injured students tell their stories

A third-story balcony collapsed during a party in the early morning of Sept. 27. The balcony, added to the house in 2002, had been controversial from the beginning. The city fined the homeowner because of the addition.

Amanda Lenko and Niki Prekop are two of the students who were injured in the fall. Prekop was the last person to walk onto the balcony before it collapsed without warning. She had been on the balcony previously during the night, and had not worried about its safety.

“It just seemed like a normal balcony,” says Prekop.

Lenko had been on the balcony for much of the night before the collapse.

“Without warning, the floor just collapsed below us. I just couldn’t believe it was happening,” says Lenko.

“I remember being on the ground, and I couldn’t move. People were yelling that they knew first aid and knew what to do, and my first thought was, ‘I’m a lifeguard, I know what to do too,’ ” says Prekop, who only remembers being on the ground after the fall.

“I wanted to help, but I just couldn’t get up.”

Both girls sustained injuries from the fall. Prekop has a broken ankle, scrapes and bruises on the right side of her body, as well as back pain. Lenko, who landed on her feet, sustained a compressed spine, a bruised lung, and other scrapes and bruises. Both girls worry they will have lasting injuries from the fall. Other suffer from a broken femur, a broken jaw, knocked out teeth, lacerations and bruises. “I was honestly shocked that nobody died,” says Prekop.

Both Prekop and Lenko are students at NSCAD, and their injuries have affected their studies. Prekop is studying ceramics, which requires simultaneous standing and manual work, which she is unable to do with her crutches.

Lenko returned to school this week, but was unable to stay for the whole day because of pain. Both girls have difficulty getting around, but say that the school has been very accommodating. They, as well as others who were involved in the collapse, are in the process of filing a lawsuit.