Emergency medical services rushed to the library after receiving a call from security. | Sarah Whiteley/The Cougar
EMS brought the student out of the library on a stretcher. | Sarah Whiteley/The Cougar
A male student collapsed on the fifth floor of the brown wing of MD Anderson Library around 2 p.m. today.
“I didn’t see much, but I think the guy had a cramp or something,” said biology freshman Wesley Tran. “He was having trouble breathing, but I didn’t see what caused it. Eventually security came, and later the paramedics came.”
A man in a light blue button-up shirt and khaki pants was walking around and surveying the scene, Lumbo said.
“I walked in and saw a bunch of campus security surrounding the corner of the library,” Lumbo said. “I overheard the girl he was with tell the officers he took something for heart burn, and he took another one and that’s when he started cramping.”
The student moved to the floor as the cramping worsened.
“I had come to the fifth floor of the brown wing to study and eat food, and I saw one of the security personnel kneeling on the floor and asking if they were alright,” said accounting senior Isaias Rodriguez. “As I moved to the side, I saw a male student sitting on the floor, crunched up, saying he was having trouble breathing and cramping up.”
After a few minutes, a team of emergency personnel arrived at the site with a stretcher, Rodriguez said. The personnel questioned the student to determine what was going on, and a female student answered for him, he said. The female was supposedly a friend of the male student and arrived to the scene before the emergency response, he said.
“From what I could hear, she said that he had passed out and that he had taken supplements before the whole incident, and that might have been the cause,” Rodriguez said. “The emergency team then asked more questions, like did he drink plenty of water and so forth, but that’s all I could hear.”
