UA freshman died from fall, autopsy says

Brian Scott Balcer, 18, died Oct. 26 - nine days after a fellow student found him lying injured near the southwest staircase at the UA Art building, 1031 N. Olive Road.

When police and paramedics arrived they took Balcer, a resident of Manzanita-Mohave Residence Hall, 1010 N. Park Ave., to University Medical Center. According to University Police reports, he told a UMC employee he took "acid" the day of his fall.

The forensic report, however, states that a test for the drug LSD in Balcer's system came back as "negative."

UAPD Cmdr. Brian Seastone speculated last night that Balcer was having flashbacks when he told UMC medics he had used "acid."

"We're thinking that when he made that statement, he was talking about the past and he had a flashback," Seastone said. "That's what we're going with at this point."

The forensic report also outlines circumstances pertaining to Balcer's injuries and subsequent death.

"It is believed that he fell or jumped off a three-story balcony," the report states.

Pima County forensic pathologist Cynthia Porterfield stated in the report that Balcer suffered multiple rib fractures, pulmonary contusions, acute respiratory distress syndrome and other fractures within his body.

Porterfield's concluding opinion in the report states that Balcer died of "complications of multiple injuries sustained in a fall of approximately 30 feet."

UAPD's investigation will formally close within the next few days, Seastone said.

David J. Cieslak can be reached via e-mail at David.J.Cieslak@wildcat.arizona.edu