Spring Break
Student collapses, dies in restaurant
By: Chelsea Lankes
Issue date: 3/27/07 Section: News
Jeremy Kersh, a junior electrical engineering and mathematics major, died after collapsing at 8:30 p.m. Sunday inside the Texas Roadhouse restaurant in College Station, eyewitnesses said.
Mandie Pearce, one of the hostesses working at Texas Roadhouse that night, described the incident as traumatic.
"It was probably the scariest moment of my life," she said.
Pearce said she heard glass shatter and turned to see the commotion. She said it looked like Kersh was having a seizure. Pearce was asked to page the restaurant for a doctor when she was made aware of the situation.
Two students that knew first aid administered CPR to Kersh until the ambulance arrived.
"We were waiting for a table at Roadhouse in the waiting area around 8:30 at night," said one of those who administered CPR. "We noticed some kind of commotion at a table near hostess stand. They made an announcement asking if there was a doctor around to come to the front. We found Jeremy laying on the floor near the booth he had been sitting at. A guy was holding him off the floor and trying to get him to talk. We got Jeremy onto his side (we thought he was choking) and checked to see if he had something in his throat (he didn't)."
Restaurant staff gathered around to help in any way they could, Pearce said. Before the ambulance arrived, the two students went through five rounds of breathing and chest compressions. When the ambulance arrived, they did everything they could.
"They put a breathing tube down his throat and hooked him up to an ECG," the eyewitness said. "The paramedics did CPR for a long time before loading him into the ambulance to take him to St. Joseph Hospital. From what I understand, he died on the way there."
Pearce said she and the other waitresses were deeply impacted by the tragic incident.
"We were all in the peanut room crying," Pearce said. "Seeing the girlfriend with him just broke my heart."
Jennifer Sustaire, a house supervisor at St. Joseph Hospital wasn't clear on details, but said Kersh is set to have an autopsy, as ordered by the judge, to determine the exact cause of death.
Mandie Pearce, one of the hostesses working at Texas Roadhouse that night, described the incident as traumatic.
"It was probably the scariest moment of my life," she said.
Pearce said she heard glass shatter and turned to see the commotion. She said it looked like Kersh was having a seizure. Pearce was asked to page the restaurant for a doctor when she was made aware of the situation.
Two students that knew first aid administered CPR to Kersh until the ambulance arrived.
"We were waiting for a table at Roadhouse in the waiting area around 8:30 at night," said one of those who administered CPR. "We noticed some kind of commotion at a table near hostess stand. They made an announcement asking if there was a doctor around to come to the front. We found Jeremy laying on the floor near the booth he had been sitting at. A guy was holding him off the floor and trying to get him to talk. We got Jeremy onto his side (we thought he was choking) and checked to see if he had something in his throat (he didn't)."
Restaurant staff gathered around to help in any way they could, Pearce said. Before the ambulance arrived, the two students went through five rounds of breathing and chest compressions. When the ambulance arrived, they did everything they could.
"They put a breathing tube down his throat and hooked him up to an ECG," the eyewitness said. "The paramedics did CPR for a long time before loading him into the ambulance to take him to St. Joseph Hospital. From what I understand, he died on the way there."
Pearce said she and the other waitresses were deeply impacted by the tragic incident.
"We were all in the peanut room crying," Pearce said. "Seeing the girlfriend with him just broke my heart."
Jennifer Sustaire, a house supervisor at St. Joseph Hospital wasn't clear on details, but said Kersh is set to have an autopsy, as ordered by the judge, to determine the exact cause of death.
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