The fencing being put up for the Redfest concert Thursday fell on a student Monday morning.
An American Fence Company worker was holding a piece of fence upright. He lost control of it, and it hit Elli Legerski, a freshman in French and film studies, as she walked to class. The fence scraped her arm, stomach and hip.
“(At first) all I felt was (the cut) on my arm,” Legerski said. “It felt like someone punched me.”
She said she continued on to her class, but stopped in the bathroom to clean her arm.
“I lifted my shirt and saw my stomach had all these cuts on it,” she said. “I thought there’s no way I can go to class now.”
She remained lighthearted as the fire department paramedics checked her out in the Union lobby.
After performing an emergency exam, the medics said she needed to be checked by a doctor, but did not need an ambulance. She might need a tetanus shot, said Capt. Marty Peterson, or she might have compromising prior health conditions they don’t know about.
The fire department advised Legerski to take the campus shuttle to the U emergency room.
“It was just a weird freak accident,” Legerski said. “When you get hurt on campus, always report it, because (the fencing company) is liable for all the expenses. That’s the lesson for today.”
Representatives from American Fence Company, hired to erect the fencing, had no comment.