A Notre Dame student was killed Wednesday when the hydraulic scissorlift from which he was filming Fighting Irish practice was apparently toppled by winds gusting to 60 mph.
Declan Sullivan, a 20-year-old junior, sent messages to Twitter from the top of the tower before the accident.
In his first message, Sullivan wrote, "Gust of wind up to 60mph well today will be fun at work... I guess I've lived long enough :-/."
About 40 minutes later, he wrote, "Holy f-ck holy f-ck this is terrifying."
Less than an hour later, the tower was toppled. Sullivan died a short time later at South Bend Memorial Hospital.
The football team reportedly continued to practice, leaving the field 20 to 30 minutes after the accident.
Coach Brian Kelly said Sullivan "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."
Scissorlifts generally are not to be operated in winds in excess of 28 mph.
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