Notre Dame student dies while filming team practice...

[joeybee12]

20 years old...this sucks.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5734494

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A Notre Dame student died Wednesday after the tower from which he was filming football practice fell over.

Declan Sullivan, a 20-year-old junior from Long Grove, Ill., was transported from the LaBar practice complex to a South Bend hospital, where he died.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to Declan's family and friends," coach Brian Kelly said in a release. "Declan was a diligent student worker in our video department and had a tremendous personality and great sense of humor. He brightened the days for all that had the privilege to work with him, and the Notre Dame football family will dearly miss him."

Authorities were investigating the incident. The hydraulic scissor lift, which can be lowered or raised depending on needs, stretched across a nearby street.

[Kingofalldems]

1. Sad news

RIP Declan Sullivan

[LisaM]

2. That's terribly sad, and there should be some negligence involved

everyone I know who lives between Chicago and the East Coast was hunkering down the last few days because of the "Great Laker" cyclone-level winds going through. No way he should have been on that crane. They are unstable at the best of times. He's a 20-year old kid - he's not going to make the decision not to go out on it. I'm very sorry this happened.

[Hokie]

3. Tragic and completely avoidable

Any second year civil engineering student could have calculated the wind loading and figured out that this lift should not have been raised in those kinds of winds. This is a a case of gross negligence on the part of the Notre Dame athletic program. If you are going to use heavy equipment you better damn well know the parameters under which it is safe to operate it. Every crane operator knows that in high winds you lower the boom. I feel so sorry for this young man's parents, family and friends.