Over Spring Break, ETSU suffered a loss when one of its students apparently fell to his death from a second-floor balcony at Buccaneer Ridge Apartments.
Cadet Staff Sgt. Robbie Nottingham, 22, a member of the ETSU Army ROTC program and Pi Kappa Alpha, was found Friday morning shortly after 1 a.m. lying on the sidewalk in front of Building H in a pool of blood. Nottingham was from Kingsport.
Public Safety responded to a panic alarm at approximately 1:30 Friday morning and found the victim had sustained severe head trauma with no detection of breathing or a pulse. EMS personnel arrived shortly after and pronounced Nottingham dead on the scene.
“It was horrific, like a movie scene,” said one student who asked not to be identified.
Jarrod Suits, who lived on the same floor as Nottingham at Building H, was asleep when the fall occurred but woke up from the commotion and sirens.
He said that many people showed up to help, especially members from the ROTC and Pi Kappa Alpha.
“I was able to see how deeply affected his friends were,” Suits said. “You could tell he was someone who was really cared about.”
The preliminary investigation by Public Safety determined that Nottingham died from the injuries he sustained after the fall.
However, Lt. Terry Story said the incident is still under investigation as to determine how the fall occurred.
“We’ve been interviewing a lot of people,” he said.
Story said it would be up to Interim Public Safety Chief Jack Cotrel to decide when further information could be released.
He also emphasized that the ETSU Counseling Center is doing its best to help students that were at the scene or in need of grief counseling.
Nottingham’s body was sent to the ETSU’s James H. Quillen College of Medicine for an autopsy and the investigation is continuing.
“It just takes time,” Story said.
Services were held Sunday at First Baptist Church in Kingsport. On Tuesday, a memorial service for Nottingham was held at the VA chapel.

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